Exports of edible oil and fat products, consisting almost entirely of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives, dropped by 34.85 percent to US$1 billion in February, down from $1.6 billion in January.
The BPS provided no explanation for the sharp decrease, but the drop was expected because the government imposed a progressive export tax of up to 25 percent on CPO.
Total national exports in February fell by 4.98 percent to $10.53 billion from $11.08 billion in January.
The BPS said despite the drop February exports were 28.53 percent higher than in the same period last year.
"The decrease in total exports in February was mainly caused by lower exports of non-oil and gas products, which fell from $8.86 billion in January to $8.15 billion," said Ali Rosidi, BPS deputy head for distribution and services statistics.
Total exports of oil and gas products increased by 7.47 percent from $2.21 billion in January to $2.38 billion in February.
Ali said the increase in oil and gas exports was mainly due to higher crude oil exports, which grew by 29.59 percent to $1.07 billion; exports of its derivative products were down 13 percent to $225.3 million.
"The higher value of oil exports in February was driven by both its high international price and a 22.42 percent increase in volume," he said.
Ali said the country's gas exports in February fell 4.19 percent to $1.07 billion, due to a 3.7 percent drop in export volume.
Indonesia's main export destinations in February for oil and gas were Japan with a total value of $1.05 billion, the United States with $1.02 billion and China with $681 million. These three countries accounted for 33.78 percent of total exports.
"In January and February, Japan remained the top importer of Indonesian products, followed by the U.S. and Singapore," he said.
Indonesia's imports in February were worth $9.63 billion, an increase of 1.53 percent on the previous month.
According to BPS, vehicles and vehicle components accounted for the biggest proportion of non-oil and gas imports, at a value of $84.4 million, followed by iron and steel products ($15.8 million) and chemical organic materials ($8.6 million).
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