Indonesia had increased its value and volume of imports of dates to prepare for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that began in March.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia mostly imported its stocks of dates for 2024 from Tunisia and did not import any from Israel, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) stated in Jakarta on Friday.

"There are no imported dates originating from Israel. Based on our data, Indonesia's dates are mostly imported from Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia," Acting Head of BPS, Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, remarked.

According to data for the January-February 2024 period, she revealed that imported dates from Tunisia accounted for 29.66 percent of Indonesia's date stocks, followed by 28.35 percent imported from Egypt, 9.3 percent from Iran, 8.61 percent from Saudi Arabia, and 24.07 percent from other countries.

She noted that Indonesia had increased its value and volume of imports of dates to prepare for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that began in March.

The total value of Indonesia's date imports in February stood at US$17.81 million, thereby indicating an increase of 25.77 percent as compared to a value of US$13.66 million registered in the previous month, she stated.

The official then elaborated on the import volume, saying that Indonesia imported 11.24 thousand tons of dates in February, up 51.28 percent as compared to 7.43 thousand tons of dates imported in January.

Widyasanti then spoke of Indonesia's overall import value, noting that the country imported goods worth US$18.44 billion in total during the February 2024 period, an increase of 15.84 percent from the value recorded in February 2023.

She stated that the total value of exports had reached US$19.31 billion in February this year.

Furthermore, data showed that Indonesia is experiencing a surplus of US$0.87 billion in its trade balance, marking its 46th consecutive monthly surplus since May 2020.

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Translator: Maria C, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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