01Key Takeaways
- Indonesia imported $223.11 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 6.23% from $237.94 billion in 2022, tracking softer commodity prices worldwide.
- Mineral fuels led every import category at 17.98% ($40.12 billion), refined petroleum products the country's own refineries can't fully supply.
- Machinery and electrical machinery together made up more than a quarter of imports, much of it equipment feeding Indonesia's nickel smelter construction boom.
- China supplied 28.41% of imports, worth $63.39 billion, by far Indonesia's largest source.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $171.3B | $141.6B | $196.2B | $237.9B | $223.1B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $63.4B | 28.4% |
| 2 | Singapore | $18.4B | 8.3% |
| 3 | Japan | $16.5B | 7.4% |
| 4 | United States | $11.4B | 5.1% |
| 5 | Malaysia | $10.8B | 4.8% |
| 6 | South Korea | $10.6B | 4.7% |
| 7 | Thailand | $10.3B | 4.6% |
| 8 | Australia | $9.3B | 4.2% |
| 9 | India | $6.7B | 3.0% |
| 10 | Vietnam | $5.4B | 2.4% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $40.1B | 18.0% |
| 2 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $32.6B | 14.6% |
| 3 | 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 | $25.9B | 11.6% |
| 4 | Iron and Steel | $11.4B | 5.1% |
| 5 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $10.2B | 4.6% |
| 6 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $9.5B | 4.2% |
| 7 | Organic Chemicals | $6.4B | 2.9% |
| 8 | Cereals | $6.0B | 2.7% |
| 9 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $4.6B | 2.1% |
| 10 | Residues and Waste from the Food Industries; Prepared Animal Fodder | $4.3B | 1.9% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
A Top Coal Exporter That Still Imports Most of Its Fuel
Indonesia imported $223.11 billion worth of goods in 2023. Mineral fuels led every category at 17.98% of the total, worth $40.12 billion, a striking figure for a country that is also one of the world's largest coal exporters. The gap comes down to refining capacity. Indonesia's domestic refineries have long struggled to keep pace with fuel demand, forcing state energy company Pertamina to import large volumes of gasoline and diesel. Indonesia currently imports roughly 24 billion litres of fuel a year, a figure the newly opened $7.4 billion Balikpapan refinery expansion is projected to cut to about 19 billion litres, with the energy minister targeting an end to jet-fuel imports by 2027.
Machinery and mechanical appliances ranked second at 14.63% ($32.64 billion), and electrical machinery followed at 11.63% ($25.94 billion), together making up more than a quarter of everything Indonesia imports. Much of that reflects the equipment needed to build and run the country's rapidly expanding nickel smelters, the same industry driving the iron and steel export boom covered on the export side of this story. Chinese imports account for 80 to 90% of the machinery used during the refining stage of Indonesia's nickel industry, with Chinese firms controlling roughly three-quarters of domestic refining capacity. Building a single nickel smelter complex requires furnaces, pressure vessels, and processing equipment on a scale few Indonesian manufacturers can supply domestically, so most of it arrives by ship from Chinese ports. Iron and steel took 5.11% ($11.41 billion), likely including further inputs feeding that same smelter buildout.
Vehicles added 4.57% ($10.21 billion), and plastics and articles thereof contributed 4.24% ($9.45 billion), both categories tied to Indonesia's growing consumer and manufacturing base. Organic chemicals took 2.88% ($6.42 billion), and cereals, largely wheat and rice, added 2.67% ($5.95 billion), since Indonesia's own grain harvest doesn't fully cover a population of nearly 280 million. Iron or steel articles contributed 2.06% ($4.59 billion), and food-industry residues and prepared animal fodder closed out the top ten categories at 1.93% ($4.31 billion).
China Supplies More Than a Quarter of Everything Indonesia Imports
China supplied 28.41% of Indonesia's imports in 2023, worth $63.39 billion, by far the largest single source, consistent with Chinese firms' role in supplying both consumer goods and the machinery behind Indonesia's nickel-smelting boom. Singapore followed at 8.26% ($18.42 billion), often reflecting trading and logistics flows as much as goods actually made in Singapore itself, since the city-state serves as a major transshipment and refining hub for the wider region. Japan took 7.41% ($16.54 billion), a longstanding industrial and automotive trading partner. Together, these top three suppliers made up 44.08% of total import value, a concentration roughly in line with what shows up on Indonesia's export side.
United States added 5.09% ($11.36 billion), and Malaysia contributed 4.83% ($10.79 billion), a close regional trading partner with its own overlapping palm oil and manufacturing industries. South Korea took 4.73% ($10.55 billion), and Thailand added 4.60% ($10.27 billion). Australia contributed 4.17% ($9.30 billion), a major coal and agricultural trading partner in its own right despite competing with Indonesia in some of those same export markets. India took 3.02% ($6.74 billion), and Vietnam closed out the top ten list at 2.41% ($5.37 billion).
Imports Eased in 2023 Alongside Softer Commodity Prices
Indonesia's import total climbed for three straight years before easing in 2023. It stood at $171.28 billion in 2019, then fell to $141.57 billion in 2020 as the pandemic curbed global trade. It rebounded sharply to $196.22 billion in 2021, then climbed further to $237.94 billion in 2022 as fuel and commodity prices spiked worldwide. The 2023 total of $223.11 billion, down 6.23% year over year, marks the first annual decline in this five-year window.
That decline is a gentler version of the 11.18% drop in Indonesia's export total over the same year, both moving down together as global fuel and commodity prices retreated from their 2022 highs. The nickel-smelter buildout is again a partial exception. As long as new smelter capacity keeps coming online, the machinery and electrical-equipment imports that go into building it are unlikely to fall in step with broader commodity-driven swings. That divergence is worth watching in future years, since it suggests part of Indonesia's import bill has become less sensitive to the same commodity-price cycles that still dominate its export figures.