Three Decades of Trade with Japan: Indonesia Never Recorded a Deficit

Japan is one of the countries President Jokowi will visit during his trip to East Asia in July 2022.

President Jokowi is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and local business leaders on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.

For the past three decades, since 1989, Indonesia has never recorded a trade deficit with Japan.

UN Comtrade recorded Indonesia's trade with Japan reaching its highest level of US$53.15 billion in 2011.

After that, the trade trend declined to its lowest level of US$24.34 billion in 2020, coinciding with the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Indonesia still recorded a surplus.

Indonesia's trade balance surplus with Japan reached its highest level of US$17.1 billion in 2007. The lowest surplus level was US$341 million in 2019.

In 2021, the value of trade between the two countries reached US$32.67 billion, or Rp464 trillion (at an exchange rate of Rp14,300 per US dollar). This figure increased by 33.54% compared to the previous year.

In 2021, Indonesia's exports to Japan reached US$17.86 billion, while Japan's exports to Indonesia amounted to US$14.64 billion. Thus, Indonesia's trade balance with Japan recorded a surplus of US$3.21 billion last year.