North Sumatra Import in January Increased By 7.98%

6 March 2014

North Sumatra’s import in January 2014 increased by 7.98% with most of the imports came from Singapore, China and Malaysia; especially for raw material product.

“On January 2014, the import value had reaches US$ 437.660 million increases from the same period in 2013 at US$ 405.327 million,” the Head of Statistic Distribution under the Central Statistical Body (BPS) North Sumatra, Bismark Saor Pardamean, said in Medan on Wednesday.

The increasing import rate came from Singapore. North Sumatra import from Singapore has increased by 63.49%.

On January 2013, import value from Singapore was around 80.877 million US dollar and it had increased to 132.228 million US dollar in 2014.

Import from Malaysia and China on January had decreased by 19.59% and 8.71%.

“If our import from Malaysia and China to North Sumatra increased like Singapore, then our import value will increase significantly,” he said.

The Secretary of Indonesian Exporters Association (GPEI) North Sumatra, Sofyan Subang, said that most of the product North Sumatra imported is supporting raw materials, so the increase in import will not be dangerous.

Raw material import showed that the industries’ performance in North Sumatra had been going well.

“But I hoped that the supporting raw materials for our industries could be fulfilled by North Sumatra or domestic,” he said.