RI'S IMPORTS IN JANUARY DOWN 7 PCT

Jakarta, March 1 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's imports in January 2010 fell 7.35 percent to US$9.54 billion from US$10.30 billion a month earlier, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

"But compared to January 2009 the value (of our imports in January 2010) jumped US$2.943 or 44.58 percent. By value imports again fell below US$10 billion in January 2010. But the imports in January 2010 did not drop as sharply as the exports." BPS Chief Rusman Heriawan said here on Monday.

Non-oil/non-gas imports in January 2010 dropped 7.54 percent to US$7.59 billion from the month before but rose 42.62 percent from the corresponding period last year, he said.

Oil and gas imports in January 2010 stood at US$1.96 billion, down 6.60 percent from the previous month. But compared to January 2009 they climbed 52.74 percent, he said.

The January 2010 non-oil/non-gas imports were dominated by machinery and mechanical appliances worth US$1.43 billion, a 0.90 percent increase compared to the month before, he said.

He said China was listed as the biggest supplier of non-oil/non-gas commodities to Indonesia in January 2010 with a value of US$1.41 billion or 18.56 percent of the total.

This was followed by Japan with US$1.07 billion (14.12 percent) and Singapore US$0.78 billion (10.34 percent).

Meanwhile, imports from other ASEAN member states and the European Union respectively accounted for 22.41 percent and 8.91 percent of Indonesia's imports in January 2010.