Trade Expo Opens Amid Green Shoots

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu on Wednesday officially opened the annual Trade Expo Indonesia amid an improving international market outlook with “green shoots” sprouting in the global economy.

The concerted efforts Indonesia had made to diversify its export market had begun to bear fruits, with a steady increase in sales to non-traditional markets such as Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Brazil and Bulgaria, Mari said.

“We will further increase our marketing efforts by opening several more international promotion centers overseas, notably in countries with promising markets for our products,” Mari said.

The four-day trade expo, displaying a wide range of Indonesian natural-resource commodities and manufactured goods, attracted more than one thousand foreign buyers from the US, Europe, New Zealand and the Middle East, as well as other parts of Asia.

The Trade Ministry would also improve cooperation with other government agencies such as the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and Culture and Tourism Ministry in promoting Indonesia’s export products overseas, Mari said.

Since September 2008, Indonesian exports have declined sharply on impacts of the global financial crisis and economic slump.

Recent data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that Indonesian exports fell around 15 percent to US$10.55 billion in August, from a year earlier.

For the first eight months of this year, exports reached a total of $70.30 billion, down 26.30 percent.

Of this figure, non-oil goods accounted for $60 billion, 18.31 percent less than for the same period last year. Manufactured exports suffered the biggest decrease (25 percent) in the eight-month period.

However, exports in August booked a month-on-month increase of almost 9 percent from those in July, of which non-oil commodities accounted for $8.91 billion, down 6.28 percent from July last year.

Major export destinations in August were Japan, the US, China and the European Union.

The monthly export development indicated that after a year of pain and pessimism, there are clear signs of an economic recovery and that green shoots are beginning to sprout, although the economy is not out of the woods yet.

At the opening ceremony, Mari also honored 26 small and large companies with Primaniyarta export awards for outstanding performance in the international market.

Outstanding among those awarded was PT Musim Mas, an integrated palm oil company based in Medan, North Sumatra, which had won the ward for the 10th time, and PT Megasurya Mas, also a palm oil-based company in Sidoarjo, East Java, winning for the fifth time.

Other notable winners included PT Indorama Synthetics, LG Electronics Indonesia, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Sorini Agro Asia Corp., PT Timah, PT Eagle Glove Indonesia and PT Cahaya Sakti Furintraco.

The expo’s opening day attracted more than 1,000 foreign buyers.

quoted from: THE JAKARTA POST