TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government is starting to prioritize industrial product exports such as automotive and garment rather than extractive commodities such as coal and crude palm oil (CPO).

The policy is taken in response to the currently dropping prices of commodities that have further affected Indonesia's trade balance.

"We tend to focus on industrial commodities such as in Priok on automotive exports, just keep an eye on it, we are not favoring on palm oil," said Darmin Nasution, Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs in Central Jakarta on Friday, February 15, 2019.

The change of focus also follows the government's simplified export procedure for completely built-up vehicles that was recently introduced on Tuesday, February 12, 2019.

"This policy was issued to boost the growth of vehicle exports and in the same time reduce the need to import," said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in Tanjung Priok on Tuesday, February 12, 2019.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) had just announced the country's January 2019 trade deficit that amounted to USD 1.16 billion, which is a slight increase compared to December 2018 with USD 1.03 billion but a significant climb compared to January 2018 that saw USD 756 million trade deficit.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO