Zulkifli Hasan Fight for Indonesia’s Export Commodities to India

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan went to India to fight for Indonesia’s leading export commodities. Zulkifli is scheduled to make a working visit on 13 and 14 March 2023 (13/03/2023).

“South Asia, especially India, is a potential non-traditional market that must be worked on intensively. For this reason, we will meet several parties to fight for India’s superior products with India’s stakeholders,” Zulkifli explained through an official broadcast.

Reported by money.kompas.com, Zulkifli is scheduled to meet India’s Minister of Trade and Industry Piyush Goyal. This meeting was held following the direction of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to negotiate on bilateral trade with India. Previously, the two ministers had met at the G20 Trade, Industry and Investment Ministerial Meeting in Bali in September 2022.

Apart from that, Zulkifli will also have meetings with ministers from allied countries who are also attending the CII 2023 Partnership Summit. Not only that, he will also meet with a number of Indian business actors and leaders of Indian business associations.

Indonesian and Indian Trade

In 2022, Indonesia’s exports to India are recorded at USD 23.38 billion. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s imports from India amounted to USD 9.33 billion. Thus, Indonesia enjoyed a trade surplus of USD 14.05 billion.

Indonesia’s export products to India consist of mining and agricultural commodities. Of the mining commodities, there is coal, as well as copper ore and concentrates. Meanwhile, from agricultural commodities, there is palm oil and its derivatives. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main import products from India include semi-finished iron products, sugarcane or beet sugar, peanuts, frozen buffalo meat, and ferrous alloys.