Exports In May Down 4.49 Pct Year On Year

Jakarta, July 1 (Antara) - Indonesia`s exports in May dropped 4.49 percent to US$16.07 billion compared to the same period last year. "The drop was caused by a decline in exports of oil and gas by 22.98 percent but non-oil/gas exports were up 0.77 percent," Head of the National Statistics Agency (BPS) Suryamin said in a statistical exposition here on Monday. He said compared to April exports in May however rose 8.9 percent due to an increase in exports of non-oil/gas commodities that reached US$13.21 billion or by 7.28 percent. Suryamin said cumulatively national exports from January to May 2013 reached US$76.25 billion or were down 6.46 percent compared to the same period of last year. Non-oil/gas exports in the period reached US$62.78 billion or declined by 2.28 percent. "The biggest rise in non-oil/gas exports in May was recorded by fat and animal/vegetable oils reaching US$311.9 million while the biggest drop was suffered by non-iron and steel products by US$21.5 million," he said. He said exports of non-oil/gas commodities to China in May reached the highest record at US$1.72 billion, followed by Japan at US$1.44 billion and India at US$1.32 billion. The three countries contributed 33.94 percent of total non-oil/gas exports. Exports to the European Union (27 countries) were recorded at US$1.44 billion, he said. Based on sectors Indonesia`s exports of industrial products from January to May this year were down 1.55 percent year on year while exports of mining products by 5.63 percent but exports of agricultural products rose 3.49 percent. Suryamin said the country`s imports in May were down 2.19 percent year on year to US$16.66 billion due to a drop in imports of oil and gas by 5.29 percent. "Non-oil/gas imports however rose 3.06 percent. In general imports in May were down 2.19 percent year on year," he said.