Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesia's trade balance with Russia and Ukraine is in deficit due to the ongoing war between the two countries, Head of the  Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Margo Yuwono said.

"We want to conclude that this conflict has made our trade balance deficit, in which the largest deficit is with Russia," Yuwono told a press conference here on Monday (Apr. 18).

He explained that Indonesia's three main export commodities to Russia are animal/vegetable fats and oils, rubber and rubber products as well as electrical machinery and equipment.

In January 2022, the value of Indonesia's exports of animal/vegetable fats and oils to Russia was recorded at 102.4 million U.S. dollars. In February 2022, this figure was recorded at 102 million US dollars, and in March 2022 it fell drastically to 58.3 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the export value of rubber and rubber goods in January and February 2022 was recorded at 7.1 million dollars and 7.3 million dollars respectively, but in March 2022 this figure was only 600,000 dollars.

The decline in the export value also occurred in machinery and electrical equipment commodities, where in January 2022 it was recorded at 11.1 million dollars, in February 2022 it was 10.7 million dollars, and in March it was 2.5 million dollars.

Thus, the trade balance between Indonesia and Russia in the January-March 2022 period experienced a deficit of 204.6 million dollars. This figure decreased significantly when compared to the same period in 2021 which reached a surplus of 42.2 million dollars.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's main export commodities with Ukraine are animal/vegetable fats and oils, paperboard and footwear.

"In March there were no exports to Ukraine at all, showing that this conflict has disrupted our exports to Ukraine," said Margo.

Thus, Indonesia's trade with Ukraine during January-March 2022 experienced a deficit of 13.5 million dollars. This figure fell significantly compared to the same period in the previous year which was a surplus of 53.6 million dollars.

Reporting by Indonesia Window