Export Target Corrected to US$184.3bn
20 October 2014 08:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – This year's export target was has been cut from US$190 billion to US$184.3 billion, the government announced. Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said that initially this year's export value was targeted to increase by 4.1 percent from 2013's achievement. With the revision, the increase target is now only 0.9 percent.
The Trade Ministry's data shows that the actual value of Indonesia's exports from January to August 2014 was down 1.52 percent to US$ 117.42 billion, year-on-year (YOY). On a monthly basis, however, August's export noted a 2.49-percent increase to US$ 14.48 billion.
Lutfi said that, in international markets, the prices of several main commodity prices like crude palm oil (CPO), rubber, coal, iron ores, and copper are declining. CPO price has now reached a low US$726 per metric ton, down from January's US$920 per metric ton.
In addition to the price declines, Lutfi said that the finances of Indonesia's export destinations are not at their best. Countries like China, USA, Taiwan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom are experiencing slowdown.
Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said a target correction by 3.2 percent is actually one of the government's scenarios when entering year 2014. The pessimistic scenario was delivered so that the new cabinet can have a general idea of the real condition in the current trade situation.
According to Bayu, The Federal Reserve's normalization of economic policy has started to pay its toll on the rupiah exchange rate. "This has been happening throughout 2014. We can already feel the weight it has on the production costs of exported goods," he said.
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