August's export value reached US$15.21 billion, while imports only reached US$13.49 billion. As a result, last month's trade balance showed a surplus of US$1.72 billion, compared to a deficit of US$274 million the previous month. This achievement is the largest since December 2011, or almost seven years ago.
The trade balance for January-August 2017 increased by 77.6 percent to US$9.11 billion compared to the same period the previous year, which was only US$5.13 billion. The trade surplus in the first eight months of this year almost equals the total trade surplus for the whole of 2016, which was US$9.53 billion.
China remains Indonesia's main export destination. From January to August 2017, the value of exports to China reached US$12.68 billion, or approximately 12.8 percent of the national non-oil and gas total. The United States is in second place with export value of US$11.39 billion, and Japan is in third place with US$9.29 billion.
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