MARKET DEVELOPMENT
RI’s Trade with Africa Down Drastically
RI’s Trade with Africa Down Drastically
23/04/2015 (Jakarta Post) - While leaders of more than 100 countries from Asia and Africa gathered in Jakarta on Wednesday to boost cooperation, trade and investments among their countries, trade between Indonesia and African countries declined sharply in the first two months of this year, the latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed.
Reversing the recent trend, the two-way trade between Indonesia and 53 countries plunged to US$1.24 billion in the first two months of this year compared to $2.12 billion during the same period in 2014. It means the trade was down by more than 60 percent. It looks like a tough year ahead for Indonesia.
A review of the BPS data reveals that trade was down with 42 countries in the first two months. It significantly surged with only Morocco (50.68 percent), Angola (43.81 percent) and Equatorial Guinea (2,345 percent) and slightly with Comoros, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Madagascar, Cameroon, Mali and Uganda.
There is no data available on Africa’s youngest country, South Sudan, the 54th country in Africa.
Despite a global economic slowdown and low prices of oil and commodities, the bilateral trade between Southeast Asia’s largest economy and Africa was still in positive territory last year.
“We are not bad. Our current trade is almost $12 billion with Africa. We have to work harder to increase our trade with Africa in future,” the Foreign Ministry’s director for African affairs Lasro Simbolon told The Jakarta Post recently.
Supporting Lasro’s statement, last year, the two-way trade between Indonesia and Africa, despite all odds, grew to $11.67 billion, a slight increase from $11.10 billion in 2013. Indonesia’s trade performance with Africa reached its peak in 2012 when it hit a record-high of $12 billion (see table 2), a huge leap from $9.55 billion in 2011 and $4.76 billion in 2009.
Out of $11.67 billion in trade, a third was Indonesia’s oil imports from African countries, which reached $3.86 billion in 2014. Indonesian exports, whose value was around $5 billion, were mainly palm oil, rubber, coffee, tea, garments, shoes, electronic equipment and automobiles to Africa.
Indonesia emerged as the second biggest trading partner of Burkina Faso (with a total trade value of $135 million) and fifth biggest trading partner of the Central African Republic ($8 million trade) in 2013. Indonesia’s trade with Djibouti reached $307 million in 2014, making the archipelagic state one of its biggest trading partners last year.
“We have been exporting a lot to Djibouti in recent years. But our goods are actually going to Ethiopia through Djibouti,” Lasro said.
Indonesia, the main host of the first historic Bandung Conference, might have a big name politically across the African continent, but it is a dwarf economically in rising Africa, the planet’s “new Asia”. The gross domestic product (GDP), exports and imports of many countries in Africa have either doubled or tripled during the last decade, of course from a low base.
The total trade of Africa, based on 2013 trade data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was $1.23 trillion ($608.52 billion in exports and $627 billion in imports). Indeed, Indonesia’s $11 billion or $12 billion trade was insignificant.
For example, China’s trade with Africa in 2014 reached $200 billion. But Africa’s biggest trading partner is not China but the EU, with Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands still playing a big role in Africa.
Indonesia’s spirits, however, remain high.
“In the next three years, the trade value between Indonesia and African countries can increase by up to 80 percent to $20 billion. This depends on the willingness of Indonesian investors to expand their new markets,” Antara news agency reported on Tuesday. (++++)
Table 1
RI’s trade with main African trading partners 2015
(in millions of US dollars)
Country 2015 (Jan.-Feb.) 2014 (Jan.-Feb.) Change %
Nigeria 258.19 552.93 ( -) 53.30
Egypt 224.05 246.04 (- ) 8.93
South Africa 145.33 486.18 (- ) 70.11
Angola 69.51 48.33 (+) 43.81
Morocco 59.24 39.31 (+) 50.68
Djibouti 46.30 65.11 (-) 28.88
Tanzania 45.96 33.01 (+) 39.23
Ivory Coast 42.19 45.98 (-) 8.23
Kenya 38.14 59.31 (-) 35.70
Algeria 35.46 120.26 (-)70.51
Source: Central Statistics Agency
Table 2
RI’s trade with main African trading partners 2014
(in billions of US dollars)
Country Exports Imports Total trade
Nigeria 0.65 3.30 3.95
South Africa 1.38 0.49 1.87
Egypt 1.34 0.14 1.48
Algeria 0.18 0.29 0.47
Angola 0.18 0.21 0.39
Ivory Coast 0.10 0.24 0.34
Djibouti 0.30 0.00 0.30
Ghana 0.21 0.03 0.24
Benin 0.21 0.03 0.24
Morocco 0.08 0.14 0.22
Reversing the recent trend, the two-way trade between Indonesia and 53 countries plunged to US$1.24 billion in the first two months of this year compared to $2.12 billion during the same period in 2014. It means the trade was down by more than 60 percent. It looks like a tough year ahead for Indonesia.
A review of the BPS data reveals that trade was down with 42 countries in the first two months. It significantly surged with only Morocco (50.68 percent), Angola (43.81 percent) and Equatorial Guinea (2,345 percent) and slightly with Comoros, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Madagascar, Cameroon, Mali and Uganda.
There is no data available on Africa’s youngest country, South Sudan, the 54th country in Africa.
Despite a global economic slowdown and low prices of oil and commodities, the bilateral trade between Southeast Asia’s largest economy and Africa was still in positive territory last year.
“We are not bad. Our current trade is almost $12 billion with Africa. We have to work harder to increase our trade with Africa in future,” the Foreign Ministry’s director for African affairs Lasro Simbolon told The Jakarta Post recently.
Supporting Lasro’s statement, last year, the two-way trade between Indonesia and Africa, despite all odds, grew to $11.67 billion, a slight increase from $11.10 billion in 2013. Indonesia’s trade performance with Africa reached its peak in 2012 when it hit a record-high of $12 billion (see table 2), a huge leap from $9.55 billion in 2011 and $4.76 billion in 2009.
Out of $11.67 billion in trade, a third was Indonesia’s oil imports from African countries, which reached $3.86 billion in 2014. Indonesian exports, whose value was around $5 billion, were mainly palm oil, rubber, coffee, tea, garments, shoes, electronic equipment and automobiles to Africa.
Indonesia emerged as the second biggest trading partner of Burkina Faso (with a total trade value of $135 million) and fifth biggest trading partner of the Central African Republic ($8 million trade) in 2013. Indonesia’s trade with Djibouti reached $307 million in 2014, making the archipelagic state one of its biggest trading partners last year.
“We have been exporting a lot to Djibouti in recent years. But our goods are actually going to Ethiopia through Djibouti,” Lasro said.
Indonesia, the main host of the first historic Bandung Conference, might have a big name politically across the African continent, but it is a dwarf economically in rising Africa, the planet’s “new Asia”. The gross domestic product (GDP), exports and imports of many countries in Africa have either doubled or tripled during the last decade, of course from a low base.
The total trade of Africa, based on 2013 trade data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was $1.23 trillion ($608.52 billion in exports and $627 billion in imports). Indeed, Indonesia’s $11 billion or $12 billion trade was insignificant.
For example, China’s trade with Africa in 2014 reached $200 billion. But Africa’s biggest trading partner is not China but the EU, with Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands still playing a big role in Africa.
Indonesia’s spirits, however, remain high.
“In the next three years, the trade value between Indonesia and African countries can increase by up to 80 percent to $20 billion. This depends on the willingness of Indonesian investors to expand their new markets,” Antara news agency reported on Tuesday. (++++)
Table 1
RI’s trade with main African trading partners 2015
(in millions of US dollars)
Country 2015 (Jan.-Feb.) 2014 (Jan.-Feb.) Change %
Nigeria 258.19 552.93 ( -) 53.30
Egypt 224.05 246.04 (- ) 8.93
South Africa 145.33 486.18 (- ) 70.11
Angola 69.51 48.33 (+) 43.81
Morocco 59.24 39.31 (+) 50.68
Djibouti 46.30 65.11 (-) 28.88
Tanzania 45.96 33.01 (+) 39.23
Ivory Coast 42.19 45.98 (-) 8.23
Kenya 38.14 59.31 (-) 35.70
Algeria 35.46 120.26 (-)70.51
Source: Central Statistics Agency
Table 2
RI’s trade with main African trading partners 2014
(in billions of US dollars)
Country Exports Imports Total trade
Nigeria 0.65 3.30 3.95
South Africa 1.38 0.49 1.87
Egypt 1.34 0.14 1.48
Algeria 0.18 0.29 0.47
Angola 0.18 0.21 0.39
Ivory Coast 0.10 0.24 0.34
Djibouti 0.30 0.00 0.30
Ghana 0.21 0.03 0.24
Benin 0.21 0.03 0.24
Morocco 0.08 0.14 0.22