JAKARTA, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita expressed his optimism here on Thursday of the country's improving exports this year after significant growth in its non-oil and gas exports last month.
"The non-oil and gas export improvement was a good start to support national export targets this year," the minister said.
The nation posted exports of 14.45 billion U.S. dollars last month, up 7.86 percent from the corresponding period a year earlier. Export growth in non-oil and gas commodities reached 8.57 percent, significantly contributing to last month's export figure, while the oil and gas export only grew 1.10 percent in the period.
The ministry learned that the non-oil and gas trade balance booked a surplus of 182.6 million U.S. dollars last month, contributed by the nation's trade with India, the United States, the Philippines, the Netherlands and Bangladesh in the month.
Among the non-oil and gas commodities, mineral-based fuels, jewelry, iron and steel, wooden pulps, fish and shrimps, grains, core and ash metals and garments highly contributed to national exports in the sector last month.
Besides the countries where the nation secured trade surplus, Indonesia also saw increasing shipping of non-oil and gas commodities to Saudi Arabia, China and Japan, the minister said.
The trade ministry has set a target of obtaining a national export growth of 7 percent this year from last year's estimated record of 170.3 billion U.S. dollars.
To attain the target, the Southeast Asia's largest economy is aiming at new markets for its export commodities, including African and South American countries, according to the minister.
