Maluku Records US$64 Mln Deficit In Its Foreign Trade

Ambon, Maluku, Jan 16 (ANTARA) - Maluku province in November 2011 recorded a deficit of US$64.33 million in its foreign trade, a local statistics official said. "The deficit in the balance of trade was because our exports which stood at US$8.74 million were far below our imports which reached up to US$73.06 million," Head of the Maluku Provincial Statistics Office Edison Ritonga said here on Sunday. He said Maluku`s balance of trade largely depended on the export and import of mineral fuel. If the monthly import of the commodity was not followed by the export of crude oil, the province would continue to record the increasingly higher trade deficit. What was more, the local residents` demand for gasoline increased all the time, he said adding that in the January-November 2011 period the province 12 times imported mineral fuel valued at US$25.29 million per month. Meanwhile, the import of ships and floating structures was valued at US$3.98 million and that of wheat flour at US$2.42 million per shipment, he said. In the year to November 2011, the province imported wheat flour four times and ships and floating structures five times, he said.