Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung (ANTARA) - Bangka Belitung Provincial Statistics Agency reported a 2.52-percent rise in the value of processed tin exports in March 2019, indicating its continually increasing role in supporting the economy of the world's second-largest tin ore producer.

"Tin exports in the initial three months of 2019 had contributed 78.60 percent (to the total export)," Head of BPS of Bangka Belitung Darwis Sitorus remarked in Pangkalpinang on Friday.

Sitorus noted that Singapore remained the main destination country for tin exports in the Bangka Belitung Islands Province, with some 41.71 percent of the tin exported during the January-March 2019 period.

"In comparison with the January-March 2018 period, tin exports to Singapore this year rose by some 37.76 percent," he remarked.

Meanwhile, India, the Netherlands, Japan, and South Korea emerged among the five main tin export destination countries during the period between January and March this year.

"The five main export destinations in Bangka Belitung Islands Province constituted 86.59 percent of the exports," he remarked.

According to Sitorus, mineral fuels dominated the non-tin exports of Bangka Belitung Islands Province during the January-March 2019 period, with the March 2019 value reaching $11.6 million, so the cumulative value in the initial three months of 2019 reached $33.2 million, or 45.59 percent of the total non-tin exports in the world's second-largest tin-producing province.

"On the whole, the export value of the five largest commodities declined in comparison with that of the previous year. A similar trend was witnessed in the export value of animal and vegetable fats and oils, dropping by 19.78 percent, with this commodity contributing 39.12 percent," he noted.

Moreover, the export value of rubber products and goods experienced a cumulative drop of 13.17 percent; fish and shrimp exports plummeting 27.38 percent; and value of pepper exports under the HS code 09 also decreasing by 45.25 percent, with a 2.46-percent contribution.

"Non-tin exports during the January-March 2019 period were valued at $72.7 million, contributing 21.40 percent," he added.

Translator: Eliswan Azly
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2019