01Key Takeaways
- Indonesia exported $259.53 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 11.18% from $292.19 billion in 2022, as coal and palm oil prices cooled from 2022 highs.
- Mineral fuels led every category at 22.92% ($59.49 billion), largely thermal coal, one of the world's largest export industries of its kind.
- Iron and steel ranked third at 10.29% ($26.70 billion), built almost entirely on Indonesia's nickel-ore export ban and downstream smelting boom.
- China absorbed 25.06% of exports, worth $65.04 billion, by far Indonesia's largest market.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $167.7B | $163.2B | $231.7B | $292.2B | $259.5B |
03Top Export Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $65.0B | 25.1% |
| 2 | United States | $23.3B | 9.0% |
| 3 | Japan | $20.8B | 8.0% |
| 4 | India | $20.3B | 7.8% |
| 5 | Malaysia | $12.8B | 4.9% |
| 6 | Singapore | $12.6B | 4.9% |
| 7 | Philippines | $11.0B | 4.3% |
| 8 | South Korea | $10.3B | 4.0% |
| 9 | Vietnam | $7.5B | 2.9% |
| 10 | Thailand | $7.2B | 2.8% |
04Top Export Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $59.5B | 22.9% |
| 2 | Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes | $28.5B | 11.0% |
| 3 | Iron and Steel | $26.7B | 10.3% |
| 4 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $14.4B | 5.5% |
| 5 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $11.2B | 4.3% |
| 6 | Ores, Slag and Ash | $8.7B | 3.4% |
| 7 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $7.5B | 2.9% |
| 8 | Nickel and Articles thereof | $6.8B | 2.6% |
| 9 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $6.5B | 2.5% |
| 10 | Footwear, Gaiters and the like; Parts of such Articles | $6.4B | 2.5% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Coal, Palm Oil, and Nickel Smelters Drive What Indonesia Sells Abroad
Indonesia exported $259.53 billion worth of goods in 2023. Mineral fuels led every category at 22.92% of the total, worth $59.49 billion, most of it thermal coal shipped to power plants across Asia, since Indonesia is one of the world's largest coal exporters. Animal, vegetable, and microbial fats and oils followed at 10.96% ($28.45 billion), almost entirely palm oil. Indonesia produces nearly 60% of the world's crude palm oil and accounts for more than half of global palm oil exports, an industry generating over $20 billion in annual export revenue, used in everything from cooking oil to cosmetics to biodiesel.
Iron and steel ranked third at 10.29% ($26.70 billion), a category that barely registered a decade ago and now sits among Indonesia's largest export earners. Indonesia banned exports of raw nickel ore starting in 2020, forcing miners to build domestic smelters instead. The country now has 44 operational nickel smelters with 21 more under construction, up from just two in 2014, backed by more than $10 billion in Chinese investment. That policy shift turned processed-nickel export value from $1.4 billion in 2020 to $34.8 billion by 2023, much of it showing up in the iron and steel category as stainless steel and nickel pig iron rather than raw ore. It is one of the more dramatic examples anywhere of a resource-exporting country forcing its way up the value chain through export policy alone. Electrical machinery added 5.53% ($14.35 billion), and vehicles contributed 4.30% ($11.15 billion), both categories tied to Indonesia's broader manufacturing base.
Ores, slag, and ash added 3.36% ($8.72 billion), the raw nickel and mineral concentrates still permitted for export ahead of full processing. Pearls, precious stones, and jewelry contributed 2.89% ($7.51 billion), and nickel and articles thereof, a category distinct from the broader iron and steel classification, took 2.63% ($6.82 billion), a reminder that the nickel boom shows up across more than one line in Indonesia's trade data. Machinery added 2.49% ($6.46 billion), and footwear closed out the top ten categories at 2.48% ($6.44 billion), a longer-standing manufacturing export that predates the recent nickel and coal boom.
China Buys a Quarter of Everything Indonesia Exports
China absorbed 25.06% of Indonesia's exports in 2023, worth $65.04 billion, by far the largest single market. That dominance is built substantially on Chinese investment in Indonesia's nickel-smelting industry, combined with China's own demand for Indonesian coal and palm oil. United States followed at 8.98% ($23.31 billion), and Japan took 8.01% ($20.79 billion), a longtime buyer of Indonesian coal and natural resources. Together, these top three markets made up 42.05% of total export value, a level of concentration that leaves Indonesia's export performance closely tied to demand from a small handful of large Asian economies.
India added 7.82% ($20.30 billion), a major buyer of Indonesian coal and palm oil in its own right. Malaysia contributed 4.93% ($12.80 billion), and Singapore took 4.86% ($12.61 billion), both close regional trading partners with deep shipping and refining ties to Indonesia. Philippines added 4.25% ($11.04 billion), and South Korea contributed 3.97% ($10.30 billion). Vietnam took 2.91% ($7.54 billion), and Thailand closed out the top ten list at 2.78% ($7.22 billion).
Exports Pulled Back in 2023 After Two Years of Commodity-Driven Growth
Indonesia's export total climbed for three straight years before pulling back in 2023. It stood at $167.68 billion in 2019, then eased slightly to $163.19 billion in 2020 as the pandemic curbed global demand. It surged to $231.71 billion in 2021, then climbed further to $292.19 billion in 2022 as coal and palm oil prices spiked amid global energy and food-supply disruptions. The 2023 total of $259.53 billion, down 11.18% year over year, marks the first annual decline in this five-year window.
That pullback lines up with coal and palm oil prices cooling from their 2022 peaks. Both commodities make up such a large share of Indonesia's export total that swings in global prices move the whole figure quickly, sometimes overshadowing everything else happening in the rest of the economy. The nickel and steel story is the exception to that pattern. Indonesia's downstream processing industry has kept expanding even as coal and palm oil prices retreated, a structural shift that looks less tied to any single year's commodity cycle and more like a long-term change in what the country actually exports.