Automotive Trade Balance Was Under Pressure against Surplus This February

During this February period, the automotive trade balance, which is incorporated in HS 87 concerning motor vehicles and so on, recorded a downward pressure on the surplus. This is known from data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

From the data collected, the total export value in February this year reached US$761.3 million. The performance grew month-to-month from the previous month’s 2.3 percent.

However, this figure decreased by 6.4 percent when compared to the same period last year. It was noted that last year the export value in the same period could penetrate up to US$813.5 million

Likewise, export performance for the January-February period this year decreased by 2.2 percent when compared to export achievements in the first two months of 2021 which could penetrate the US$1.53 billion mark.

On the other hand, the import value of HS 87 rose sharply year on year. The total value of imports in February 2022, amounting to US$659.4 million, rose 48.2 percent compared to US$444.9 million in the same period last year.

The trend of increasing imports continues the growth relay from January this year. In January, the total import value reached US$711.2 million, growing 44.37 percent YoY. Thus, the total imports in January-February this year also experienced significant growth of 46.1 percent compared to the first two months of last year.

However, for the first two months of this year, there was a significant decline in the trade balance surplus for automotive and derivative products. If in January-February 2021, the surplus was recorded at US$602.4 million, in the first two months of this year the surplus was US$134.2 million.

If viewed from the statistical data, export performance is actually running normally as in the previous year. The average performance was above US$720 million.

The drop in the surplus was due to a significant increase in imports. Since the last quarter of last year, the import value of HS 87 has crossed the US$650 million range, whereas in the previous period the average import was around US$450 million.