MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Government Boosts New Items to Meet Export Target This Year
Government Boosts New Items to Meet Export Target This Year
05/11/2014 (Jakarta Post) - The government has boosted exports of a number of new items in a bid to meet its export targets and reduce the trade deficit.
It has intensified overseas shipment of at least eight types of goods and commodities, such as shrimp, processed food, chemicals and jewelry, for the end of this year, amid continuing weak overseas demand, according to the Trade Ministry’s director general for national export development Nus Nuzulia Ishak.
“If we see our shrimp exports, they have only reached US$1.1 billion. We are optimistic the exports can rise by 6 or 7 percent from last year,” she said after a press conference on monthly trade data, but she did not elaborate on the 2013 figure.
Exports of shrimp along with fish might hit $2 billion this year, Nus added. Monthly shrimp and fish exports surged significantly by 32.1 percent to $292.6 million in September from a year earlier, according to Trade Ministry data.
Meanwhile, exports of chemicals rose by 20.4 percent to $3.31 billion in January to September this year from last year, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows.
Other manufactured products, such as organic chemical materials and plastics, also followed a marked upward trend, rising respectively by 28.55 percent to $2.54 billion and by 12.87 percent to $2.04 billion. Palm oil, traditionally the second biggest contributor to non-oil and gas exports after coal, unexpectedly gained by 12.29 percent to $15.44 billion, a signal for an improved outlook in the upcoming months.
The ministry recently reduced its export targets as falling commodity prices inevitably hurt Indonesia’s export performance.
Prices of five key export commodities — palm oil, coal, rubber, copper and iron ore — slumped in the first three quarters of this year, according to statistics compiled by the ministry.
The ministry had scaled back the exports growth target by 0.9 percent to $184.3 billion this year, as against the initial growth target of 4.1 percent or $190 billion. Despite the revised target, exports slid mildly by 0.93 percent to $132.71 billion from the past year from January to September, as compared to last year’s figures. Meanwhile, non-oil and gas shipments dipped by 0.81 percent to $109.3 billion.
Despite shrinking non-oil and gas exports, overall exports of manufactured goods, comprising items such as rubber products, machinery and mechanical instruments, managed to rise by 5.45 percent to $87.85 billion.
Indonesia posted a $1.67 billion deficit in the first three quarters of this year because of high imports, an issue that the new government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has vowed to address soon.
Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said that he would coordinate further with related ministries, including the Industry Ministry and Agriculture Ministry, to map out some products that could give a boost to exports.
“I will discuss how to raise exports or to reduce imports by utilizing our internal resources because it is now what the ministries are trying to do,” he told reporters during the press conference,
The newly-installed trade minister has set an ambitious target to triple the exports that Indonesia has at present in the next five years. However, he has yet to reveal concrete measures to ensure how the target would be achieved.
It has intensified overseas shipment of at least eight types of goods and commodities, such as shrimp, processed food, chemicals and jewelry, for the end of this year, amid continuing weak overseas demand, according to the Trade Ministry’s director general for national export development Nus Nuzulia Ishak.
“If we see our shrimp exports, they have only reached US$1.1 billion. We are optimistic the exports can rise by 6 or 7 percent from last year,” she said after a press conference on monthly trade data, but she did not elaborate on the 2013 figure.
Exports of shrimp along with fish might hit $2 billion this year, Nus added. Monthly shrimp and fish exports surged significantly by 32.1 percent to $292.6 million in September from a year earlier, according to Trade Ministry data.
Meanwhile, exports of chemicals rose by 20.4 percent to $3.31 billion in January to September this year from last year, data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows.
Other manufactured products, such as organic chemical materials and plastics, also followed a marked upward trend, rising respectively by 28.55 percent to $2.54 billion and by 12.87 percent to $2.04 billion. Palm oil, traditionally the second biggest contributor to non-oil and gas exports after coal, unexpectedly gained by 12.29 percent to $15.44 billion, a signal for an improved outlook in the upcoming months.
The ministry recently reduced its export targets as falling commodity prices inevitably hurt Indonesia’s export performance.
Prices of five key export commodities — palm oil, coal, rubber, copper and iron ore — slumped in the first three quarters of this year, according to statistics compiled by the ministry.
The ministry had scaled back the exports growth target by 0.9 percent to $184.3 billion this year, as against the initial growth target of 4.1 percent or $190 billion. Despite the revised target, exports slid mildly by 0.93 percent to $132.71 billion from the past year from January to September, as compared to last year’s figures. Meanwhile, non-oil and gas shipments dipped by 0.81 percent to $109.3 billion.
Despite shrinking non-oil and gas exports, overall exports of manufactured goods, comprising items such as rubber products, machinery and mechanical instruments, managed to rise by 5.45 percent to $87.85 billion.
Indonesia posted a $1.67 billion deficit in the first three quarters of this year because of high imports, an issue that the new government under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has vowed to address soon.
Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said that he would coordinate further with related ministries, including the Industry Ministry and Agriculture Ministry, to map out some products that could give a boost to exports.
“I will discuss how to raise exports or to reduce imports by utilizing our internal resources because it is now what the ministries are trying to do,” he told reporters during the press conference,
The newly-installed trade minister has set an ambitious target to triple the exports that Indonesia has at present in the next five years. However, he has yet to reveal concrete measures to ensure how the target would be achieved.