Muhamad Al Azhari & Dion Bisara – Exports contracted in April for the sixth consecutive month, year-on-year, off by nearly 22.6 percent from April 2008 and down 1.8 percent from March to $8.46 billion, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), announced on Monday.
Analysts said the trade picture would likely improve as external demand stabilized. Demand decreased in most major export destinations, with January-April exports down to $31.49 billion, off from $44.7 billion in the same period last year.
Imports also fell, down 2.58 percent from March to $6.38 billion and 45.24 percent year-on-year, as domestic demand decreased with the slowing pace of gross domestic product growth, now expected at about 4.5 percent for 2000.
Oil and gas exports remained relatively unchanged in value at $1.25 billion in April from $1.28 billion in February as crude prices continued to recover. Non-oil and gas exports slumped to $7.21 billion, 14.63 percent off from April last year at $8.26 billion.
"Exports dropped, suffering from the weakened price of some commodities," said Rusman Heriawan, head of BPS, noting that copper and nickel exports fell in value from $676.7 million in March to 592.3 million.
China is now the country's largest export market, followed by the United States and Japan.
A breakdown of trade data shows non-oil and gas exports to China at $830.3 million; $768.4 million to the United States; $687.4 million to Japan; and $869.3 million to 27 EU countries.
Indonesia continued to post a trade surplus as the plunge in exports was smaller than that in imports, with the monthly surplus for April relatively unchanged at $2.08 billion compared to $2.01 billion in March. The country registered a $1.15 billion deficit during the same month last year.
Prakriti Sofat, a Singapore-based economist for HSBC, said that the contraction in exports could be deceiving.
"On a seasonally adjusted basis, [regional] exports rose for the third straight month and were up 4.2 percent month-on-month following on from a 7.4 percent rise previously," Prakriti said. "This is consistent with what we found for exports in the wider region."