Indonesia's 2020 Trade Balance with Egypt at US$1.17bn Surplus

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trade Ministry recorded Indonesia's trade balance with Egypt stood at a surplus of US$1.17 billion (Rp18.22 trillion) as of December 2023. The figure reflects a 6.15-percent year-on-year increase.

M. Syahran Bhakti, Trade Attache of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) Cairo, said that the volume of Indonesian exports to Egypt reached US$1.37 billion as of December 2023, up by 3.26 percent (yoy).

"The rise in exports was driven by the increase in non-oil and gas exports of plantation, agricultural and industrial products," Syahran said in an official statement quoted on Friday, February 23.

These products include palm oil and its derivatives, Robusta coffee beans, textile threads, passenger vehicles, vehicle tires, spices and cooking seasoning products, toilet soap, margarine, as well as paper and wood products.

A report by the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in November 2023 stated that the main product of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports to Egypt is palm oil and its derivatives, with a value of US$838 million. The export value of coffee beans stood at US$88 million, textile yarn US$41 million, wood products US$36 million, and coconut products and their processed products US$27 million.

On a separate occasion, Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt Lutfi Rauf called Indonesia's trade surplus in 2023 a significant achievement for Indonesia in Egypt as well as in North Africa amidst an uncertain global economy.

In 2023, Indonesia's trade with Egypt stood at US$ 1.58 billion. "The value of Indonesia's exports to Egypt is the largest in North Africa and the third largest in the Middle East after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia," he said.

Defara Dhanya Paramitha

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