Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Indonesia had been enjoying a positive trade balance for 58 consecutive months, but the monthly surplus had weakened in February, official data showed on Monday.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia's overall trade surplus totaled $3.12 billion last month, giving Southeast Asia's largest economy its 58-month streak since May 2020.
Last month, Indonesia exported $21.98 billion worth of goods, while it imported $18.86 billion from its foreign partners.
The recently announced surplus is smaller than the $3.49 billion positive trade balance recorded in January 2025. Even so, it surpassed the $830 million surplus in February 2024, thanks to the rising exports of its top commodity palm oil, among others. BPS revealed that crude palm oil (CPO) exports had soared over 58 percent month-to-month, hitting $2.27 billion in February.
"The $4.84 billion surplus in our non-oil and gas trade in February helped us keep up the positive trend. The top contributing commodities include vegetable or animal fats and oils, mineral fuels, as well as iron and steel," BPS' head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti told a press briefing.
The US remained Indonesia's top contributor to the positive trend as Jakarta's surplus with Washington topped $1.5 billion in February, followed by India (nearly $1.3 billion), and the Philippines ($753.3 million). The latest figures further cemented the possibility of Indonesia being a future target for US President Donald Trump's tariffs as the American politician is targeting his country's top sources of foreign trade deficit. BPS reported that Indonesia posted a $291.1 million surplus when trading electrical machinery and equipment with the US.
Indonesia booked the largest deficit with China in February, running a negative trade balance of almost $1.7 billion with Beijing that month. The nearly $1.4 billion deficit in Indonesia's electrical machinery and equipment trade with China made up the lion's share of these figures.
The neighboring Australia became Indonesia's second-largest source of deficit, reaching $428.6 million over the said period. In third place was Brazil ($168.1 million), BPS announced.