Panudhiana Kuhn, chairperson of the Indonesian Employers Association’s Bali chapter, said he was optimistic the island’s exports would continue to increase after being hit by the global financial crisis.

“Some commodities, including seafood products, shrimps and fish have experienced a significant increase, while textiles, garments and handicrafts still have to wait for the market to rebound,” Kuhn said.

Data from the Bali Statistic Bureau showed that Bali’s exports between April and June were valued at US$70.93 million as compared to $70.1 million in the same period in 2008.

Kuhn said exports to some traditional markets including the United States, European countries and Japan were still quite slow because those countries were still struggling to recover from their economic crises. “However, some Balinese companies have started to receive new orders from clients in those countries,” he said.

Head of the Statistic Bureau Ida Komang Wisnu went on to elaborate that, so far, exports of seafood products had contributed to the increase. Seafood products exports, especially to Japan, had generated $23.52 million in export revenues, or 30.34 percent of the total export value.

Jewelry and gemstones came in second place with $13.14 million, followed by garments ($12.85 million), knitted products ($2.52 million) and leather goods ($1.68 million). Wisnu said exports of leather goods increased by almost 166 percent from the previous year, which only generated $632,412.

Bali’s top ten export destinations are Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, Australia, Britain, France, Italy, Taiwan and Germany.

Kuhn was still optimistic that the island’s export performance would improve as its tourism industry has experienced a boost in the last few months. “I hope our country will continue to be politically and economically stable in the future,” Kuhn said.

Source : The Jakarta Post.