How much is Indonesia's trade with China?

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made a state visit to Indonesia from May 6-8, 2018. During the visit, Premier Li was scheduled to meet with President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, and attend meetings with businesspeople from both countries. One of the agendas for these meetings was the signing of cooperation agreements on trade and investment.

(Read Databoks: How Important is China to Indonesia?)

For information, China is Indonesia's largest trading partner. Data from the Ministry of Trade recorded Indonesia-China trade in 2017 reaching US$58.82 billion or Rp797 trillion. This figure is equivalent to 18% of Indonesia's total trade value.

In the January-February 2018 period, trade between the two countries grew by 43.07% to US$11.6 billion from US$8.1 billion in the same period the previous year. Indonesian exports to China grew by 35.45% to US$4.28 billion. Similarly, Indonesian imports from China grew by 47.93% to US$4.96 billion. Unfortunately, Indonesia consistently experiences a trade deficit with China. In the first two months of this year, Indonesia's trade deficit with the world's most populous nation surged by 69.86% compared to the first two months of last year.