Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia's trade balance in January 2021 experienced a surplus of 1.96 billion U.S. dollars, and was the highest one at the beginning of the year since January 2014.

The trade surplus was contributed by the non-oil and non-gas balance surplus of 2.6 billion U.S. dollars and the oil and gas balance deficit of 668.1 million U.S. dollars.

"We are starting 2021 quite well. The performance of Indonesia's foreign trade balance has showed a surplus trend since May 2020. In January 2021, the trade balance recorded a surplus of 1.96 billion U.S. dollars,” Trade Minister Muhamad Lutfi said in a written statement on Friday (Feb. 26).

He noted that commodities contributing to the January 2021 surplus included animal/vegetable fats and oils (HS15), mineral fuels (HS27), and footwear (HS64).

Meanwhile, Indonesia's main trading partner countries that make the biggest contributions to the non-oil and non-gas surplus in January 2021, are United States, India, the Philippines, Japan, and Malaysia.

"Indonesia's trade balance surplus in January 2021 is better than that in January 2019 which experienced a deficit of 1.0 billion U.S. dollars, and January 2020 which experienced a deficit of 0.6 billion U.S. dollars," the trade minister pointed out.

According to him, the January 2021 surplus showed an improvement in the trade balance because the increase in exports was higher than the decline in import performance.

Reporting by Indonesia Window