Jakarta. Indonesia's exports in November rose at what a government statistician called a "spectacular" pace —  the fastest in more than five years — thanks to higher commodity earnings.

Exports surged 21.3 percent from a year earlier to $13.5 billion in November, the highest level in 17 months, data from the statistics bureau showed on Thursday.

The annual increase, the fastest since September 2011, was more than twice a Reuters poll's median forecast of a 10 percent.

Sasmito Hadi Wibowo, bureau deputy chief, said the "spectacular" increase portrayed "a picture of an improvement in global trade."

He said exports of palm oil and its derivatives as well as coal and copper rose in both value and volume last month, mainly because of rising prices.

"Indonesia has been a clear beneficiary from both improving demand and rising prices for commodities," said Vaninder Singh, Singapore-based Asia economist for NatWest Markets.

Rangga Cipta, economist for Samuel Sekuritas in Jakarta, said November data points to "better times ahead as the export growth trend tends to show improvement."

Resource-dependent Indonesia saw its exports contracting on a yearly basis every month between October 2014 through July 2016, due to a plunge in commodity prices.

Total exports, which peaked at $203 billion in 2011, were only $150 billion last year.

The drop has hurt everything from government revenue and company profits to consumers' purchasing power, which in turn took a toll on imports.

October marked the end of a 24-month streak of import contraction, on an annual basis, as they increased 3.6 percent.

In November, import growth rose to 9.9 percent to $12.7 billion, compared with the poll forecast of just 0.1 percent, due in part to increasing imports of machinery.

Indonesia reported a $838 million trade surplus for November, smaller than the revised $1.24 billion in October. Every month this year, there has been a trade surplus.

Additional reporting by Hidayat Setiaji

Reuters