Italy is expects to boost its exports to Indonesia by 12 percent this year, mainly driven by machinery and consumer products, an Italian trade commissioner says.
"Although our machinery products, which are geared to the needs of the manufacturing industry, only account for 1 percent of our total exports, we're optimistic this niche will expand due to Indonesian economic growth," Angelo Infusino said at a seminar on Italian technology for manufacturing products on Tuesday.
Infusino added that total Italian machinery exports to Indonesia had risen to US$400 million.
He said four major Indonesian manufacturers were using Italian machinery, including furniture maker PT Olimpic and textile manufacturer PT Apac Inti Corpora.
Regarding investment, Infusino said, there were several Italian companies which were interested in Indonesia's biomass energy sector and other commodity-based sectors.
"So far, Italian investors have invested mainly in the tourism and food industry. Now they are starting to expand their investment to other promising sectors," he said.
According to the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, the value of Italy's new investment commitments to Indonesia in 2007 stood at $9.7 million representing 17 projects, down from $22.1 million for 11 projects in 2006.
Italy expanded investment in 2007 to $700,000, a 250 percent increase from $200,000 a year earlier.
Total Italian-Indonesian bilateral trade in 2007 reached $2.04 billion, of which $1.38 billion represented Indonesia's exports to Italy. These included coal, textile products, animal and vegetable oils, footwear, furniture, wood products, pulp and paper, rubber-made products and steel.
Italy's exports to Indonesia included machinery, telecommunication equipment, chemical products, food and beverages and associated products and cosmetics and perfume.
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