TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that Indonesia's exports in March 2017, increased by 15.68 percent to USD 14.59 billion when compared to that in the previous month at USD 12.61 billion. Compared to March 2016, the figure increased by 23.55 percent.
The increase in exports was supported by price hikes of a number of non-oil and gas commodities, including coal.
"We have projected that there will be commodity [price] hikes this year, although they are not aggressive. For example, we forecasted that oil and gas prices would be at somewhere between USD 55 and USD 60, and they had impacts on commodity prices," Bank Mandiri economist Andry Asmoro told Tempo on Monday, April 17, 2017.
Andry explained that based on data released by the BPS, exports in march increased and surpassed the market consensus by 23.6 percent year on year versus 11.9 percent in the previous month. Exports were supported by higher prices of commodities, such as coal, copper, and tin.
In March, coal prices soared by 70.9 percent year on year or 1.2 percent month on month, copper prices climbed by 18 percent year on year or minus 2 percent month on month, and tin prices increased by 15.5 percent year on year or 2.3 percent month on month.
BISNIS.COM