What Is The Impact of Covid-19 on Import-Export Trade In Indonesia?

The Coronavirus or what is known as Covid-19 has become a topic of international problems from the beginning of 2020 until now. Covid-19 not only affects the health sector but also affects the world economy. Many countries have implemented lockdowns to reduce the spread of Covid-19, but this can affect world economic activities, especially import-export activities. Meanwhile, imports and exports are very important activities for a country to earn income.

One example is the import-export trade between Indonesia and China in fruit and animal commodities. General Chairperson of the Indonesian Vegetable and Fruit Exporters Association (AESBI) Hasan Jonny Widjaja, said that since the beginning of the emergence of this Corona Virus, buyers from China immediately stopped buying. The most affected are fruit exporters because they sell or ship goods using the CNF (Cost and Freight/CFR) method or in other words, payments are made when the goods arrive at the port of destination for the export. There is even one example of exporters having sent goods on ships but in the middle of the journey, there was a cancellation.

Another example of the impact of Covid-19 on import-export trade is Indonesia's oil and gas and non-oil imports. According to statistical data released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in the period January to June 2020, it was noted that non-oil and gas import activities experienced fluctuations.

Therefore, the decline in import-export trade due to Covid-19 requires a major transformation to be able to achieve import-export diversification. This diversification needs to be done considering that Indonesia's current foreign trade structure tends to be vulnerable to disruption if the pandemic continues for a long time. An Economist at the Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Mohammad Faisal said that a major transformation in foreign trade must be carried out so that Indonesia can further optimize its recovery, which is better than before the Covid-19 pandemic. Faisal also added a note that investment that enters Indonesia and has the opportunity to boost exports in the future will be limited to industries with raw materials that have a large comparative advantage.

Hopefully, this Covid-19 pandemic will not last long so that the world economy, especially Indonesia, returns to normal so that exports and imports run as usual.