Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia recorded a trade surplus of US$2.1 billion in April 2009, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said.

"It`s a good performance. It is a signal that there will be a rise in our foreign exchange reserves," BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Monday.

He said the surplus had occurred after the country`s imports dropped at a faster rate than its exports.

The country`s exports in April reached US$8.46 billion which was a decrease of 1.81 percent from March when exports totalled US$8.61 billion.

The country`s imports in April meanwhile dropped 2.58 percent from US$6.55 billion in March to US$6.38 billion.

Indonesia`s non-oil and no-gas imports in April reached US$5.25 billion or dropped 6.62 percent from March.

The drop in non-oil and non-gas imports was contributed most by a decline in imports of machinery by 10.54 percent to US$1.02 billion.

Non-oil and non-gas imports in April rose 21.85 percent compared with US$1.13 billion in March.

In terms of countries of origin, most Indonesian imports came from China, worth US$3.77 billion (of a market share of 17.8 percent), Japan US$2.79 billion (of a market share of 13.18 percent) and Singapore US$2.47 billion (11.68 percent).

The BPS also recorded a trade surplus of around US$6 billion in the first four months.
Indonesia`s imports in the period were recorded at US$25.48 billion or down 38.42 percent compared with the same period of 2008.

The country`s exports in the period meanwhile reached US$31.49 billion or dropped 29.51 percent.

Non-oil and non-gas imports in the period reached US$21.17 billion or dropped 32.86 percent. The country`s oil and gas imports in the first four months were recorded down 56.23 percent or reaching US$4.31 billion from US$9.85 billion in the same period last year.

Imports dropped following a decline in imports of consumer goods by 34.27 percent, raw/complementary materials 44.42 percent and capital goods 8.68 percent.

The biggest drop was recorded in imports from Japan namely 41.4 percent followed by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) 37.9 percent, European Union 21 percent, China 16.8 percent and the US 15.3 percent.

"It means dependence on imports of raw materials, food products and machinery from the US is down," Rusman said.(*)