Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Bali province in the first five months of 2010 earned US$83.1 million from exporting non-oil/non-gas commodities to Europe, up 20.5 percent from a year earlier, a local trade official said.
France was listed as the biggest importer of Bali's non-oil/non-gas commodities particularly handicraft goods in the year to May 2010 with a value of US$21.2 million, a 37 percent increase compared to the same period last year, Head of the Export Section at the Bali Provincial Industry and Trade Office Putu Bagiada said on Friday.
Italy came in second with a value of US$15.4 million, an increase of 15 percent from the same period last year, he said.
Trailing in the third place was Spain with a value of US$10.7 million, up 26 percent from the year before, he said.
Meanwhile, Bali's non-oil/non-gas exports to Britain and The Netherlands in the January-May 2010 period were valued at US$8 million and US$4.6 million respectively, he said.
He said the increasing number of European tourists visiting Bali would no doubt encourage them to put orders for Balinese handicraft goods for resale in their respective countries.
As a result, Bali's non-oil/non-gas exports to the continent would increase, he said.(*)
