Indonesian factory exports near pre-crisis levels: Gov't

A senior official at Indonesia's trade ministry said that the value of major manufactured exports jumped dramatically in the first half of the year, and the full- year totals could equal those seen in 2008, before the global financial crisis sent the world economy into a tailspin, local media reported Friday.

The Trade Ministry said the value of exports of automotive products, electronics, footwear and textiles all soared during the first half, and were expected to keep climbing.

The automotive sector -- covering cars, trucks, motorcycles and parts -- grew 47.9 percent year on year, with exports hitting 1.32 billion U.S. dollars.

The sector saw 1.73 billion U.S. Dollars of exports in the whole of last year.

Electronics grew 38 percent in the first half to 4.83 billion U. S. Dollars, compared with 8.68 billion U.S. Dollars for all of last year.

Footwear saw more modest growth of 26.1 percent, with first- half exports reaching 1.17 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 1.74 billion U.S. Dollars in 2009.

Textile exports rose 17.4 percent to 4.95 billion U.S. dollars, compared with a total of 9.26 billion U.S. Dollars last year.

Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar said the government expected even better figures in the textile, automotive and electronics sectors by the end of the year. "We are predicting that textile exports can reach 10 billion U. S. Dollars by the end of 2010,"he said, adding that such a result would match 2008 levels, when textile exports were 10.14 billion U. S. dollars.

Mahendra said the government was optimistic that automotive exports could match the 2.73 billion U.S. Dollars figure posted in 2008. "The sector can improve because it is making use of the Asean free-trade agreement,"he was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying.

Most of Indonesia's automotive exports go to Thailand, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, with Thailand being the only Asean member.

Mahendra said the government was targeting 9 billion U.S. Dollars in electronics exports this year as both advanced and emerging countries became bigger importers.

Indonesia sells most of its electronics to Australia, France and the Philippines, which replaced the United States, Singapore and Japan as big export destinations.

Textile exports go mostly to the United States, South Korea and Turkey, but Indonesia is also eying Italy, China and Brazil as serious customers.

For footwear, Belgium, the United States and Italy have been major buyers since 2005.

Total first-half exports rose 44 percent to 72.55 billion U.S. Dollars, while imports surged 51.99 percent to 62.89 billion U.S. Dollars.
(Source:xinhua)