PRIMARY GOODS PORTION IN RI'S EXPORTS TOO BIG: OBSERVER

Jakarta, April 2 (ANTARA) - The composition of primary goods in Indonesia's exports is too big so that Indonesia's export performance in the current global economic crisis is declining, an economic observer said.

"The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) report that our exports dropped in January and February makes sense because the portion of primary goods in our exports is too big," said Hendri Saparaini, an economist of the Awaken Indonesia Team (YIB), said here on Wednesday.
He said the drop in Indonesia exports in January and February 2009 was more caused by a decline in the prices of primary commodities in the world market.
"About 63 percent of our exports in 2007 consisted of unprocessed primary goods," he said.
The performance of Indonesia's exports in 2007 and in early 2008 was still relatively good because demand for primary goods in the world market was high.
"After all, the prices of primary goods at that time were still good. But now the prices have dropped," the economic observer said.
To reverse the trend, he said. Indonesia should be able to produce goods with added value and stop exporting goods in the form of raw materials.
By turning out commodities with added value, Indonesia would have a sharper competitive edge in the world market.
In the meantime, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Indonesia's exports in the January-February 2009 period dropped by 34.52 percent compared with a year earlier.
BPS head Rusman Heriawan in his report said that Indonesia's exports in the first two months of 2009 reached US$14.23 billion. Exports in February 2009 stood at 7.08 billion dollars, which showed a decline by 1.02 percent compared with that in January 2009.
However, if the exports in February 2009 are compared with those in February 2008, the decline stood at 36.86 percent.