Jakarta. The Central Statistics Agency or BPS announced on Monday that international trade booked a surplus of $4.23 billion in July, marking the 27th consecutive month that the country's exports outweighed its imports since May 2020.

According to BPS, the surplus in July had gone up from the $4.11 billion positive trade balance during the same period last year. The figures, however, were still lower than the $5.15 million trade surplus that Indonesia enjoyed in June.

"Our exports in July were worth $25.57 billion with imports amounting to $21.35 billion," Setianto, the deputy for services and distribution statistics at BPS, told a virtual press briefing on Monday.

BPS reported that the positive non-oil and gas balance contributed to last month’s surplus. Higher exports of mineral fuels had driven the non-oil and gas surplus to $7.31 billion. Data showed that Indonesia’s mineral fuels exports widened $354.2 million from June figures. 

The statistics agency also attributed the non-oil and gas trade surplus in July to the $179.5 million month-over-month growth in Indonesia’s animal or vegetable fats and oils exports. 

“We also had ores, slag, and ash exports going up $45.2 million in July [compared to a month earlier],” Setianto said.

Indonesia’s oil and gas balance saw a $3.08 billion deficit in July due to crude oil, among other things. The surplus in the January-to-July 2022 period came to $29.17 billion. 

Watch Out for China-Taiwan Tension
BPS also warned of the growing China-Taiwan tension’s impact on Indonesia's foreign trade. 

“We need to be aware of the [latest] developments between China and Taiwan because they play an important role in Indonesia’s foreign trade. China is our strategic trading partner,” Setianto said.

BPS revealed China accounted for more than 20 percent of Indonesia’s total export and import in 2021. Taiwan in the same year made up of 3 percent and 2.20 percent of Indonesia's export and import, respectively.

"Data shows that our exports to Taiwan tend to increase," Setianto told the conference.

China is the world’s top exporting country of automatic data processing machines and office machine parts. China also becomes the biggest supplier of integrated circuits in the world after Taiwan, according to BPS. In 2020, Taiwan placed as the fourth top exporter for office machine parts.

China became the country with which Indonesia registered the largest non-oil and gas deficit in July. Electrical machinery and equipment imports caused Indonesia’s deficit with China to reach $914.5 million last month, BPS reported.