TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's food and beverage industry, particularly palm oil, has contributed significantly to the country's exports, in addition to base metal industry and chemical product and chemical industry.

The food and beverage industry contributed US$9.69 billion, the base metal industry at US$5.87 billion, and the chemical product and chemical industry amounting to US$4.18 billion.

"The food industry's export value is dominated by palm oil," Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said in his statement on Sunday.

Meanwhile, thanks to downstreaming in the metal sector, exports of Indonesian iron and steel products provided significant added value for foreign exchange earnings.

"Furthermore, various chemical products are also the prima donna of our non-oil and gas exports. This is expected to be the backbone of our exports in the future," he added.

So far, industrial products have been the main pillar for the national export performance.

"We are optimistic that the achievement of excellent export performance during this pandemic, shows that our industrialists are able to take advantage of the existing opportunities, hence it would help accelerate the national economic recovery," the Minister remarked.

The non-oil and gas processing industry trade balance during January-March 2021 recorded a surplus of US$3.69 billion.

"Cumulatively, the export value of the non-oil and gas processing industry in January-March 2021 amounted to US$38.96 billion, an increase of 18.06 percent compared to the same period in the previous year," Kartasasmita said.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance of the manufacturing industry still dominates the achievement of national export value.

"During the three months this year, the manufacturing sector contributed the largest share, up to 79.66 percent of the total national export value which touched US$48.90 billion," he said.

Read: Moeldoko Talks of Dilemma in Expansion of Palm Oil Plantations

ANTARA