"The drop is caused by a decline in the value of non-oil/gas exports by 14.49 percent from US$13.17 billion to US$11.26," BPS chief Suryamin said here on Monday.
He said the value of the country`s oil/gas exports also slid 2.3 percent from US$2.92 billion to US$2.85 billion, following a drop in the exports of oil/gas by 38.12 percent to US$220.5 million and the drop in the exports of gas by 3.19 percent to US$1.66 billion.
The drop in the exports of non-oil/gas in August was triggered by a drop in the exports of fat and animal/vegetable oils by US$666.3 million from US$2.25 billion to US$1.59 billion, and in the exports of rubber and rubber goods from US$892 million to US$795 million.
Cumulatively from January to August the country`s exports value also suffered a decline by 5.58 percent from US$134.68 billion to US$127.17 billion.
"In the first eight months of 2012 the value of exports is still dominated by mineral fuel exports reaching US$17.83 billion, followed exports of fat and animal/vegetable oils reaching US$14.09 billion," Suryamin said.
He said although exports especially exports of non-oil/gas dropped due to the European crisis demand for textiles from Indonesia has remained high especially from the US.
"Exports of other commodities remain high such as rubber and rubber products," he said.
Based on destinations cumulatively Indonesia`s non-oil/gas exports in January to August went mostly to China reaching US$13.37 billion in value, followed by Japan valued at US$12.57 billion and the US US$9.9 billion.
"Total non-oil/gas export market share in the three countries reached 35.41 percent of national exports reaching US$101.23 billion," he said.
Non-oil/gas exports to the ASEAN countries mostly to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand meanwhile reached US$25.6 billion contributing around 25 percent of the country`s total non-oil/gas exports.
Non-oil/gas exports to the European Union with the biggest going to Germany reached US$2.08 billion, followed by Britain at US$1.16 billion and France at US$74 million.
Indonesia`s imports in August were also down in value to US$13.87 billion from US$16.35 billion in July or by 15.21 percent.
BPS director of statistics distribution Satwiko Darmesto said the drop in the imports in the month was caused by reduction in the imports of non-oil/gas from US$13.59 billion to US$10.56 billion.
"Although oil/gas imports rose by 19.97 percent due to imports of crude oil and oil products the absolute drop in the non-oil/gas imports could make total imports to be lower than in the previous period," he said.
He said the drop in the imports in August had made the country to record a surplus for the first time in the past three months.
Satwiko admitted the drop was surprising especially in the imports of raw and supporting materials.
He said the chance for the imports to further decline was still big.
"Now imports are not big because the post-fasting festivities have passed and supplies are adequate. However whether it could continue in the months ahead let us just wait and see," he said.
He said imports of raw materials especially capital goods are still needed because they are needed for processing to produce products for exports.
Based on goods, non-oil/gas imports in August were mostly machinery and mechanical equipment reaching US$2.14 billion, followed by electrical machinery and equipment at US$1.34 billion and iron steel at US$674.2 million.
Based countries of origin most non-oil/gas imports came from China reaching US$1.84 billion, or 17.43 percent of total imports, followed by Japan at US$1.54 billion (14.61 percent), the US at US$1.02 billion (9.7 percent), Singapore at US$816.6 million (7.74 percent) and Thailand at US$793.5 million (7.52 percent).
(SYS/H-YH)
Editor: Suryanto
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