Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan is optimistic that exports to the Latin American region will increase after the signing of the Indonesia and Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IC-CEPA) scheme. This was marked by the signing of five business contracts worth USD 5.8 million or the equivalent of IDR 90 billion for Indonesian exports to Chile. The signing of the business contract has been carried out in stages on November 15-17 2022 virtually. This was conveyed by the Minister of Trade Zulifli Hasan after watching a video recording of the signing of a trade contract between businessmen of the two countries today, Monday (21/11). Also present to witness was the Deputy Minister of International Economic Relations of the Republic of Chile José Miguel Ahumada. Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga, Director General of International Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Trade Djatmiko Bris Witjaksono, and Director General of National Export Development of the Ministry of Trade Didi Sumedi. "We welcome the signing of a business contract worth USD 5.8 million by Indonesian and Chilean business actors who take advantage of the opening of the Chilean market under the IC-CEPA scheme. A number of commodities that will be exported in the business contract are cars, ceramic furniture, and food and beverages," said Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan. The Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan, invited Indonesian business actors to be observant in seeing the market opportunities that were opened through this agreement. "We hope that more business actors will be keen to see the opportunities in the Chilean market and that more and more Indonesian products will eventually circulate in Chile," said Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan. The Indonesian companies that have entered into trade contracts this time are PT. Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Indonesia (PT. MMKI), PT Sango Ceramic Indonesia, PT. Kalbe International, Kaya.ID, and PT. Prosperous Indonesian Cultiva. PT. MMKI succeeded in obtaining the first export order to Chile for Xpander and Xpander Cross products through its trading partner, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation for Latin America Region. The automotive sector is one of Indonesia's leading sectors in the utilization of the IC-CEPA scheme. Furthermore, PT. Sango Ceramic Indonesia for export of ceramic tableware products with its trading partner Sodimac, one of the largest household goods retail companies in Latin America.
Then PT. Kalbe International which is one of Indonesia's largest pharmaceutical companies with ARP Chile SpA for the Extrajoss energy drink product. Furthermore, Kaya.ID is cooperating with exports with Elbelmen Chile for organic rice products. Finally, PT. Kultiva Indonesia Makmur to cooperate in exporting various flavors of healthy snack products with its partner Itochu Chile. The Santiago Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) office also facilitated the negotiation process so that this business cooperation was produced. Head of ITPC Santiago Indah Fajarwati said, this trade contract is a concrete example of the use of IC-CEPA for business actors. ITPC Santiago is ready to help business people who are interested in developing their market to Latin America, especially Chile. "This trade contract is a concrete manifestation of the use of product preferential tariffs in the IC-CEPA. We certainly hope that more and more Indonesian business actors will be able to penetrate the Latin American market, including Chile," said Indah.
Indonesia's exports in October 2022 were recorded at USD 24.81 billion. This figure grew 12.3 percent (yoy) when compared to the same period the previous year. On a monthly basis (mtm), exports grew by 0.13% so that cumulatively from January - October 2022 to USD 244.14 billion, an increase of 30.97% compared to the same period in 2021. Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) Febrio Kacaribu explained, the increase in exports was driven by superior commodities such as palm products, mineral fuels and steel. "Export performance which continues to increase is also supported by requests from trading partner countries with still strong economic performance, especially India which still records expansive Manufacturing PMI," he explained in a written statement, Wednesday (16/11/2022). Cumulatively, non-oil and gas exports from January to October 2022 still recorded very high growth of 30.61% (ytd). Meanwhile in the same period, oil and gas export growth reached 37.4% (yoy). From a sectoral perspective, the mining sector recorded the highest growth of 82.68 percent (yoy), followed by the manufacturing sector which grew 20.4% (yoy), while the agricultural sector grew 14.17% (yoy). "Export growth that occurred in all sectors is an indication of continuing economic recovery in a broad-based manner, especially the manufacturing sector which contributes the most to national exports," added Febrio.
