Central Statistics Agency Reports Trade Deficit with Russia, Ukraine

TheIndonesia.id - The Central Statistics Agency, or BPS, has reported deficit in Indonesia’s trade with Russia and Ukraine, and the ongoing war in eastern Europe is said to be the main driving factor.

Head of BPS Margo Yuwono announced that Indonesia is experiencing trade deficit in the trade with Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“We’d like to conclude that the (Russia-Ukraine) conflict causes deficit in our trade – where the largest deficit is with Russia,” Yuwono said on Monday, April 18, as reported by Antara.

He detailed the figure of Indonesia’s biggest export commodities to Russia this year. In January and February, the export value of animal and vegetable oils and fats to Russia was US$102.4 million and US$102 million, respectively, but in March, the figure dropped drastically to US$58.3 million.

Meanwhile, for rubber and rubber products, the export value was US$7.1 million in January and US$7.3 million in February, but it was only US$600,000 in March.

Similarly, the export of electrical machinery and equipment also decreased – from US$11.1 million in January and US$10.7 million in February to US$2.5 million in March.

Therefore, BPS reported US$204.6 million deficit in trade with Russia in January-March period whereas in the same period last year, it reported US$42.2 million surplus.

Meanwhile, Yuwono said Indonesia’s main export commodities to Ukraine are animal and vegetable oils and fats, paper products, and footwear. However, export has been entirely put to a halt in March.

“There was no export to Ukraine in March, which shows that the conflict interrupt our export activity there,” he said.

As a result, BPS reported US$13.5 million deficit in Indonesia’s trade with Ukraine from January to March while it reported a US$53.6 million surplus in the same period last year.