Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia's export performance in January 2021 reached 15.3 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 12.5 percent compared to that in the same month in the previous year (year-on-year/yoy).

"Indonesia's exports in early 2021 have shown a pretty good performance, even though it is still in the COVID-19 pandemic," Trade Minister Muhamad Lutfi said in a written statement on Friday (Feb. 26).

He noted that that the value of non-oil and non-gas exports in January 2021 was even higher than that of non-oil exports for the same period in the last five years.

Indonesia's non-oil and non-gas exports to several main markets in January 2021 experienced an increase, including to Thailand, up 14.7 percent (MoM) or month on month, and Australia, up 10.0 percent (MoM), the minister pointed out.

Indonesia's non-oil and non-gas exports to emerging markets and developing economies also experienced significant growth.

In January 2021, non-oil and non-gas exports to the South African region increased by 138.5 percent (YoY), Eastern Europe by 127.9 percent (YoY), and Eastern Africa by 57.7 percent (YoY).

Meanwhile, Indonesia's import value in January 2021 was recorded at 13.34 billion U.S. dollars, or decreased by 7.59 percent compared to that in December 2020.

The weakening performance of Indonesia's imports in January 2021 was mainly driven by a 9 percent drop in non-oil and non-gas imports (MoM).

"Looking at the category of the use of goods, the decline in Indonesian imports in January 2021 occurred in all categories of the use of goods. The deepest import contraction occurred in imports of capital goods, which fell by 21.23 percent (MoM), followed by a decline in imports of consumer goods and raw/auxiliary materials by 17 percent and by 2.62 percent (MoM) respectively," the trade minister concluded.

Reporting by Indonesia Window