VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesia's export to China from January to August 2020 has increased. The Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia, Djauhari Oratmangun, said that according to data released by the Chinese Customs, the volume of trade between Indonesia and China in January to August 2020 period reached $48.7 billion. 

Based on this trade volume, the total value of Indonesia's exports to China reached $23.3 billion, growing by 6.4% compared to the total export value of the previous year in the same period.

Meanwhile, the value of Indonesia's imports from China in that period reached USD 25.4 billion. Decreased by 11.8% compared to the previous year in the same period.

"Indonesia's trade deficit from China in this period reached 2 billion US dollars. Last year for the January to August 2020 period, we had a deficit of 6.6 billion US dollars, so there was a very significant decrease in deficit, up to 69.2%, if this trend continues, it is expected that by the end of the year the deficit will decrease substantially compared to last year,” Djauhari said in a written statement on Wednesday.

Some of Indonesia's superior and potential products during this period recorded a significant increase in export value, including:
Iron and Steel (HS 72), an increase of 134.3%;
Copper (HS 74) increased by 88.5%;
Footwear (HS 64) increased by 31.9%;
Paper and Paperboard (HS 48) increased 118.7%;
Fishery products (HS 03) increased by 16.2%;
Rubber (HS 40) increased by 25.8%;
Plastics (HS 39) increased by 20.4%;
Tin (HS 80) increased by 1163.6%;
Aluminum (HS 76) increased by 4124.1%;
Inorganic chemicals (HS28) increased 63.1%;
Tropical fruits (HS 08) increased by 72.8%;
Coffee, tea and spices (HS 09) increased by 280.8%.
Textile products (HS 63) increased by 3296.3%;
Special Fabric Products (HS 56) increased by 54.2%;
Essential Oil Products, cosmetics and others (HS 33) increased by 25.3%;
Drinking products, alcoholic liquids and vinegar (HS 22) increased by 166.4%;
Ceramic products (HS 69) increased by 24.7%;
Sugar and Sugar Products (HS 17) increased by 374.6%;
Glass and Glass Products (HS 70) increased by 33.6%;
Pharmaceutical products (HS 30) increased by 24.8%;
Swallow's Nest (HS 0410) increased by 90.3%, etc.

Djauhari said that Chinese investment in Indonesia from January to July 2020 reached $2.4 billion, an increase of 9 percent compared to the same period in 2019, and making China is the second-largest investor in Indonesia.

If combined with the investment from Hong Kong worth $1.7 billion, China plus Hong Kong are the largest investors in Indonesia in the first quarter period.

China's Investment Realization data to Indonesia for the January to August 2020 will be published at the end of October. Djauhari said that hopefully, Indonesia's exports to China will improve by taking advantage of the e-commerce platform that is increasingly popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. (RRI)