Japan remains largest importer of RI products

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's exports to Japan dropped 29.56 percent to US$6.73 billion in the first nine months of last year, compared to $9.55 billion recorded over the same period in 1997.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) announced on Monday that despite the fewer exports, Japan remained the biggest importer of Indonesian products, accounting for 18.06 percent of Indonesia's total exports during the period.

The United States was the second biggest exporter, accounting for $5.32 billion, followed by Singapore in the third slot with $4.76 billion worth of imports.

Exports to the two countries increased by 0.4 percent and 18.32 percent respectively, the BPS said.

The BPS was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that Indonesia's exports to several main buyers generally decreased during the period.

Exports to South Korea dropped 24.59 percent to $1.86 billion, while those to Taiwan fell 4.95 percent to $1.25 billion, China's exports fell 12.23 percent to $1.44 billion and the Netherlands' fell 11.81 percent to $1.14 billion.

However, exports to Germany increased by 1.36 percent to $1.36 billion, exports to Hong Kong and Australia rose 14.15 percent and 8.81 percent to $1.52 billion and $1.14 billion respectively.

Indonesia's total exports during the first nine months of last year dropped 5.78 percent to $37.25 billion, compared to $39.5 billion booked in the same period in 1997.

The decrease in total export value was mainly due to the drop in oil and gas exports by 31.7 percent during that period, the biggest drop in the past five years.

"The decline in the value of oil and gas exports was mainly due to the decreasing international prices of crude oil especially in the last six months," BPS said, adding that exports of crude oil slumped by 43 percent during that period.

Exports of non-oil and non-gas, however, were up by 1.6 percent to $31.32 billion during the January to September period. The highest increase was recorded by exports of agricultural products by 19.8 percent, followed by industrial products by 4.4 percent.

Imports

Besides becoming the biggest importer of Indonesian products, Japan was also the biggest exporter to Indonesia.

During the first nine months of 1998, Indonesia's imports from Japan reached $3.39 billion, a 46.7 percent decrease from $6.37 billion recorded in the same period in 1997.

The country's imports from the United States also dropped by 39.3 percent to $2.54 billion, while imports from Singapore fell by 29.8 percent to $1.81 billion.

Indonesia's total imports during the period reached $20.16 billion, a drop of 3.36 percent compared to the same period in 1997.

The drop was mainly due to a cut in the importation of consumer goods, raw materials and capital goods by 21.6 percent, 37.8 percent and 36.3 percent respectively.

"Import value of most consumer goods dropped sharply during the period, except for the importation of foodstuffs and beverages which jumped by 45.6 percent during the period," BPS said. (gis)