Indonesia's trade balance in January experienced a fairly high surplus of US$1.96 billion, Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi said in a statement. "We are starting 2021 quite well. The performance of Indonesia's foreign trade balance continues the trend of monthly surplus that has occurred since May 2020," the minister noted. According to him, the ministry recorded the January 2021 trade surplus with the export value of US$15.30 billion and the import value of US$13.34 billion. The commodities contributing to the January surplus included animal and vegetable oils, mineral fuels and footwear, he said, adding that Indonesia's biggest trading partner countries contributing to the non-oil and on-gas trade surplus in January were the United States, India, the Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia.
"Indonesia's trade balance surplus in January 2021 is better than that in January 2019 which experienced a deficit of US$1.0 billion and that in January 2020 which suffered a deficit of US$0.6 billion," he said. Lutfi explained that in January 2021, Indonesia's export performance reached US$15.3 billion, an increase of 12 per cent compared to that in the same month of the previous year. He further said that non-oil and non-gas exports in January 2021 increased by 12.5 per cent compared to that in the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, Indonesia's import value in January 2021 was recorded at US$13.34 billion or decreased by 7.59 per cent compared to that in December 2020. The weakening performance of Indonesia's imports in January 2021 was mainly driven by a 9 per cent decline in non-oil and non-gas imports, he said.