In recent years, Indonesia has been named one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. After a slump in 2019 with a trade deficit of $3.20 billion, the country has risen like a phoenix and reported an account surplus of $13.2 billion in 2022.
Indonesia is enormously rich in all kinds of
natural resources and exports a number of commodities that have been in high
demand worldwide, thus the export boom. However, the country’s export policy is
taking a turn, with several bans recently installed on some of Indonesia’s best
export products.
Read this post to learn about Indonesia’s
onshoring vector and how it will influence its exports.
Indonesia’s top
exported products
As we mentioned above, Indonesia has all kinds
of natural resources, so unsurprisingly, they constitute the biggest part of
the country’s exports. Here is the list of the top 10 products that went for
export from Indonesia in 2022 and their total value in US dollars:
1. Coal and solid fuels made from coal ($46,739 mm)
2. Palm oil ($27,765 mm)
3. Iron ferroalloys ($13,707 mm)
4. Petroleum gases ($9,822 mm)
5. Copper ores and concentrates ($9,243 mm)
6. Lignite ($7,863 mm)
7. Flat-rolled stainless steel sheets ($6,818 mm)
8. Industrial fatty acids and alcohol ($6,392 mm)
9. Nickel matte, oxide sinters ($5,962 mm)
10. Cars ($5,545 mm)
In recent years, Indonesia has been in dispute
with its trading partners and the World Trade Organization (WTO) over export
bans unpredictably introduced by the government. To somebody not familiar with the
current state of affairs in the country, the bans might seem connected only to
market price fluctuations, but it’s not entirely so. Indonesian President Joko
Widodo wishes to turn the country into a fully industrialized nation by 2045,
and it’s part of his plan.