Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia recorded a 63.56 percent trade surplus in the August 2011 period if compared with that in the previous month, a statistical official said.

"The 63.56 percent increase in the trade balance surplus was mostly contributed by oil and gas exports," Deputy Chief of the Central Board of Statistics (BPS) for service and statistics distribution affairs Djamal said here on Monday.

Indonesia`s trade balance in August was recorded at US$3.76 billion or Rp34.29 trillion, up 63.56 percent compared with that in July 2011 which was US$1.37 billion or Rp12.49 trillion, he said.

Djamal said that Indonesia`s August exports accounted for 18.81 billion and the values constituted the biggest ones.

He said that the value of the August exports increased 37.05 percent from those in August 2010 which stood at US$17.42 billion, and it was up 8 percent if compared with that in July 2011, which were US$17.42 billion.

Of the exports, US$14.72 billion were contributed by oil and gas and US$4.09 billion by non oil and gas commodities.

"The value of Indonesia`s exports from January to August totaled US$134.8 billion, up 36.58 percent from those of August 2010," Djamal said.

Djamal said that mineral fuels contributed the biggest value to the exports in August 2011, namely US$16.98 billion followed by fat and vegetable oils amounting to US$13.96 billion.

For the exports, China was the biggest destination country followed by Japan and the United States, Djamal said.

"The market share in China was US$12.38 billion followed by Japan US$11.97 billion and the United States US$10.65 billion. The total market ceiling for Indonesia`s exports to the three destination countries were recorded at 33.92 percent," he said.

However, according to Djamal, during the August period, the exports to China dropped from US$1.99 billion to US1.92 billion.

In the meantime, the import values in August 2011 were recorded at US$15.05 billion, up 23.68 percent from that in August 2010. It dropped 7.12 percent if compared with that of July 2011 which was US$16.21 billion.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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