Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Industrial products served as the main engine of Indonesia`s non-oil/non-gas exports in the first quarter of 2011 when they grew 34 percent compared with the same period last year, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said.

In the first quarter of 2011, industrial products contributed US$28.4 billion to the state coffers compared to US$21.1 billion in the corresponding period last year, she said when disclosing monthly export and import performance at a meeting here on Tuesday.

Quoting data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), she said industrial products accounted for 62.57 percent of non-oil/non-gas exports in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 59.39 percent in the same period last year.

"The increase in industrial product exports is one of the indicators that the domestic industries have begun to recover," she said.

Among the industrial products that recorded growth at the start of this year were textiles and textile products, footwear, electronics and automotive products.

Data from the Trade Ministry show textile and textile product exports rose 14.4 percent to US$1.89 billion in the first two months of this year from US$1.65 billion in the same period last year.

The data also show electronic product exports increased 12.2 percent to US$1.63 billion in the January-February 2011 period from the year before.

Footwear exports jumped 44.1 percent to US$507.4 million in the year to February 2011 from US$352 million a year earlier.

Automotive product exports meanwhile climbed 46.1 percent to US$490.6 million in January and February 2011 from US$335.9 million in the same period last year.

According to BPS, large-and medium-sized industries in the first quarter of 2011 recorded a 5.51 percent increase in their production compared to 4.26 percent in the same period last year.

"This is quite good because it exceeds 5 percent," BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said on Monday.(*)
(S012/HAJM/B003).

Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011