2020 Trade Performance: Moncer Exports, Foreign Exchange Soaring

Loading and unloading activities at JICT Port. (Photo: JICT)

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that throughout 2020, Indonesia managed to record positive performance in international trade with a record surplus of 21.71 billion. Head of BPS Suhariyanto said the book was the highest since 2011.

"Overall, the increase in our exports is due to the high volume and commodity prices, which causes the export performance in 2020 to be very bright," he said in a virtual press conference, Friday, January 15.

Dian further explained that the value of Indonesia's exports in December 2020 reached 16.54 billion US dollars, an increase of 8.39 percent compared to exports in November 2020. Likewise, compared to December 2019, it increased by 14.63 percent.

"Cumulatively, the value of Indonesia's exports from January to December 2020 reached US $ 163.31 billion or decreased 2.61 percent compared to the same period in 2019, likewise non-oil and gas exports reached US $ 155.00 billion or decreased 0.57 percent," he said. .

Meanwhile, the largest increase in non-oil and gas exports in December 2020 against November 2020 occurred in animal / vegetable fats and oils amounting to US $ 264.2 million (11.23 percent), while the largest decrease occurred in iron and steel amounting to US $ 77.7 million (6 , 06 percent).

By sector, non-oil and gas exports from the processing industry from January to December 2020 rose 2.95 percent over the same period in 2019, likewise exports of agricultural products increased by 13.98 percent, while exports of mining and other products fell by 20.70 percent.

The largest non-oil and gas export in December 2020 was to China, namely 3.32 billion US dollars, followed by the United States 1.87 billion US dollars and Japan 1.25 billion US dollars, with the contribution of the three reaching 41.50 percent. Meanwhile, exports to the European Union (27 countries) amounted to US $ 1.27 billion.

Head of BPS, Suhariyanto. (Photo: Doc. BPS)

According to the province of origin, Indonesia's largest exports in January-December 2020 came from West Java with a value of 26.59 billion US dollars (16.28 percent), followed by East Java with 20.31 billion US dollars (12.44 percent) and Riau 13 , 77 billion US dollars (8.43 percent).

Bank Indonesia: Make a positive contribution to maintaining economic resilience

Bank Indonesia (BI) as the monetary authority agrees with the slick performance of exports over the past year. According to BI, Indonesia's trade balance in December 2020 returned to a surplus, amounting to 2.10 billion US dollars, continuing the surplus that had occurred since May 2020.

With these developments, overall in 2020 the trade balance was a surplus of US $ 21.74 billion, much higher than the achievements in 2019 which experienced a deficit of US $ 3.59 billion.

"Bank Indonesia views the trade balance surplus as a positive contribution to maintaining the external resilience of the Indonesian economy. Looking ahead, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergy with the Government and related authorities to increase external resilience, including the trade balance performance prospects, "BI wrote in a press statement.

The trade balance surplus in December 2020 was mainly influenced by the non-oil and gas trade balance which returned to a surplus. The December 2020 non-oil and gas trade balance was a surplus of 2.56 billion US dollars, continuing the positive performance in the previous month which was a surplus of 2.92 billion US dollars.

This development was influenced by the increase in non-oil and gas exports, especially in the commodity fats and animal / vegetable oils, mineral fuels, as well as electrical machinery and equipment.

"Meanwhile, non-oil and gas imports for all components of goods increased, in line with the gradually improving domestic economic activity," said BI.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas trade balance was still a deficit of 0.46 billion US dollars, influenced by the increase in oil and gas imports, which was higher than the increase in oil and gas exports.

Ministry of Finance: Manufacturing industry is increasing

The manufacturing sector performance in the fourth quarter of 2020 is predicted to improve, although it is still in a contractionary phase. This is reflected in the Bank Indonesia Prompt Manufacturing Index (PMI-BI) of 47.29 percent, an increase from 44.91 percent in the third quarter of 2020.

Improvement occurred in almost all components forming the PMI-BI, especially the volume of production supported by faster acceptance of input goods and the number of workers.

By sector, the majority of sub-sectors recorded improved performance in the fourth quarter of 2020, especially the Base Metal Iron and Steel sub-sector, the Fertilizer, Chemical and Rubber Goods sub-sector and the Paper and Printed Materials sub-sector which were already in an expansion phase.

In the first quarter of 2021, the manufacturing sector is predicted to improve and is in an expansionary phase. PMI-BI in the first quarter of 2021 is estimated at 51.14 percent, an increase from the previous quarter.

Potential sector 2021: Exports of palm oil products are increasingly strategic

The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) said that the export of palm oil products throughout 2020 had a positive impact on Indonesia's international trade activities in general.

The Ministry of Trade released that this group of vegetable oil products was the largest contributor to the surplus until November 2020 with a value of 17.91 billion US dollars. This good result occurred because the average palm oil price strengthened by 27.95 percent compared to the previous period.

In the future, the Ministry of Trade believes that the demand for palm oil will remain positive in 2021. For your information, palm oil contributes 32 percent of the world's total vegetable oil production.