Indonesia Targets Trade Surplus with Thailand by Boosting Exports

Indonesia’s Trade Minister Budi Santoso aims to reverse the trade deficit with Thailand and achieve a surplus by intensifying export promotion. The government plans to leverage the Joint Trade Commission forum to identify Thai market needs, with fertiliser identified as a key product for increased exports. This push follows a positive five-year trend where Indonesian exports to Thailand grew 3.7% while imports declined.

Budi stated that the trade trend between Indonesia and Thailand over the past five years has shown positive development. Indonesian exports have continued to rise, while imports from Thailand have decreased. “In the last five years, our export trend to Thailand has been 3.7%. But our imports are minus 1.7%. This means our imports are shrinking, our exports are increasing. So, the deficit is gradually decreasing, and hopefully it will become a surplus, because we want our trade or exports to continue to increase,” Budi said when met at the Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, on Wednesday.

To support this target, the Ministry of Trade will strengthen communication with the Thai government through the Joint Trade Commission (JTC) forum. According to Budi, the forum will be used to identify the needs of the Thai market so that Indonesia can increase exports of products that are in demand there. “I also spoke with the Thai Trade Minister yesterday; we have the JTC, the Joint Trade Commission. We will continue to enhance it so we can communicate more intensively,” Budi said.

From initial identification, Budi noted that there are several key Indonesian export products that could be absorbed more by Thailand. One such product, he said, is fertiliser. “What does Thailand need? Because actually, they also need a lot of our products, such as fertiliser and others. So, we can export more,” he concluded.