10/08/2012 (Bernama) - Indonesia's plantation commodity exports in the first half of the year reached US$16.98 billion, accounting for 50 percent of US$32.16 billion from plantation commodity exports throughout last year.

The foreign exchange earnings in the first semester of 2012 came from the export of 12.28 million tonnes of plantation commodities, the ministry's director general of plantation Gamal Nasir said Thursday.

Crude palm oil (CPO) was listed as the biggest foreign exchange earner, contributing US$9.95 billion to the overall plantation commodity exports, ANTARA news agency reported.

Rubber came in second with US$5.16 billion and cocoa third with US$655 million.

CPO contributed US$17.26 billion, rubber US$11.13 billion and cocoa US$1.17 million to the total plantation commodity exports last year.

"Besides CPO, rubber and cocoa, the other plantation commodities that contributed foreign exchange earnings to the national economy were coconut, coffee, cashew nut, clove, tea, tobacco, pepper and so on," Gamal said.

The country's oil palm plantations in the first half of 2012 covered an area of 9.27 million hectares, exceeding the target of 8.55 million hectares.

Rubber and cocoa plantations covered an area of 4.46 million and 1.71 million hectares respectively.

CPO production in the first half of 2012 reached 23.63 million tonnes, while CPO production target for 2012 is 25.71 million tonnes.

Rubber production reached 3.27 million tonnes in the first semester of 2012, outstripping the target of 2.74 million tonnes for this year.