October's exports reach two-year high: BPS

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Exports in October rose again for the second consecutive month to US$5.32 billion, which marked the highest monthly export figure in two years, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said on Monday.

BPS chairperson Soedarti Surbakti told a media briefing that October's export revenue, which was 4.31 percent higher than the $5.1 billion posted the previous month, indicated an improvement in the export market.

"National exports show improvement from time to time and are a positive indication of 2002 export growth," Soedarti said.

She added that the good performance during the month could well indicate that the global economic recovery was on the right track.

Recovery in the world's major economic forces, namely the U.S., Japan and Singapore, is significant for Indonesia to boost its export performance. The three countries have long been the country's main export destinations.

Non-oil and gas exports to Japan, the U.S. and Singapore in October stood at $619.2 million, $609.4 million and $470 million respectively.

"Exports to the three countries account for 40.6 percent of the country's total exports," Soedarti said.

BPS said that the rise in October exports was attributable to a rise in both oil and gas, and non-oil and gas exports.

Non-oil and gas exports increased by 3.7 percent to $4.18 billion, from $4.03 billion the previous month, while oil and gas exports rose 6.7 percent to $1.14 billion, from 1.07 billion.

Contributing most to the non-oil and gas exports were sales of machinery and wooden manufactured goods, which reached $407.1 million and $296.4 million respectively.

Accumulatively, however, January to October exports of $47.21 billion were still lower than the $48.21 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the country also posted a rise in imports during the month as import values rose to $3.15 billion, from $2.90 billion in September.

This means the country's trade surplus for October was slightly lower, at $2.17 billion as against $2.21 billion in September.

The trade surplus, or net exports, contributed less than 9 percent to the nation's economic growth, with investment and domestic consumption being the other main growth engines.

Although net exports contributed little to overall growth, high export sales could mean another source of job creation as exporters might need to expand their capacity to meet rising demand.

Since most exporters use imported raw materials to manufacture their products, a rise in imports also often indicates higher demand from overseas.

BPS said that non-oil and gas imports in October increased to $2.43 billion from $2.33 billion.