East Timor: Indonesia main supplier, Singapore largest customer in 2019

East Timor imported in 2019 goods worth almost $597 million (€527.6 million) of which more than one third from Indonesia, according to the Annual Foreign Trade Report.

The data showed that last year the country exported goods worth $182.3 million (€161.1 million), one third to Singapore.

The information is part of the Foreign Trade Statistics Report for 2019 released on Tuesday by the General-Directorate of Statistics of the Ministry of Finance.

In terms of imports, the total value recorded in 2019 was the highest since 2016, while exports were the highest ever since the oil sector started to be accounted for last year.

Indonesia is the main supplier, with the largest imports of goods from that country since 2015.

The main imports were fuel – representing 25% of the total – followed by vehicles, cereals, machinery, beverages, and iron.

After Indonesia (37.9% of the total), the main suppliers were Hong Kong (16.2%), Singapore (14.6%) and China (14.4%).

Portugal was the 14th largest supplier, selling goods worth $5.4 million to East Timor.

Regarding exports, Singapore was the main destination, representing almost half of the total, followed by Malaysia, Japan and China.

In 2019 the country exported more than seven tons of coffee, with a total value of $18.32 million, of which about half to Indonesia.