Indonesia Posts Highest Trade Surplus Since April

Jakarta, Jan 2 (Antara) - Indonesia posted a trade surplus of US$776.8 million in November 2013 or the largest monthly surplus since April 2012. The country exported US$15.93 billion worth of goods in November with imports of US$15,15 billion, the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) said here on Thursday. BPS chief Suryamin described the trend as encouraging after the deficit the country recorded in annual trade in the past two successive years. BPS said the exports in November rose 1.45 percent from the US$15.69 billion in the previous month. Cumulatively exports in the first 11 months of last year totaled US$165.57 billion , down 5.19 percent year-on-year. Commodities other than oil and gas accounted for US$136.36 billion of the total export value , or down 3.02 percent on-year. China was the largest market of destination for commodities other than oil and gas in November. Exports of commodities other than oil and gas to that country that month were valued at US$2.22 billion , followed by Japan to which exports were valued at US$1.36 billion and India US$1.36 billion Imports in November 2013 declined 3.35 percent from US$15.67 billion in October that year. However, imports of oil and oil products in November rose 13.39 percent to US$3.94 billion from US$3.47 billion in October with imports of commodities other than oil and gas down 8.12 percent to US$11.21 billion . Cumulatively , imports in the first 11 months of 2013 totaled US$171.17 billion - down 2.80 percent from the same period in the previous year , leaving a deficit of US$5.6 billion.