Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia’s monitoring platform will be judged by whether it exposes under-invoicing and improves export data, rather than by how much commodity trade it handles.
Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia should be judged less on how much it channels through a single export gate and more on whether it can close the leaks that have long weakened Indonesia’s commodity trade, according to the views set out by Herry Gunawan, director of NEXT Indonesia Centre. He argued that the company’s real task is to improve governance around natural resource exports, not to become another trader in its own right.
The distinction matters because the commodities under its remit, including coal, palm oil and ferroalloys, account for significant export value and are especially vulnerable to mismatches between declared and actual prices or volumes. Herry said DSI’s success should be measured by better oversight, stronger transparency and more accurate recording of export values, warning that if the company becomes too commercially minded, the original purpose of the policy could be lost.
That concern comes as DSI has already begun testing its monitoring platform, known as National Data Intelligence, with the aim of improving price transparency and reducing irregularities. Reporting from Kontan and other regional outlets said the pilot is intended to help ensure sales proceeds benefit Indonesia, while ICIS reported that the intermediary model will be assessed through the end of 2026, with exporters continuing to operate normally during the transition. DSI’s role, according to those reports and to a separate account from Petromindo, is to verify prices, volumes and proceeds, not to monopolise exports.
Herry said the system would only work if it linked transaction data, sales values, shipment volumes and international benchmark prices in one integrated framework. Such a set-up, he argued, could help officials spot under-invoicing and transfer pricing, both of which can reduce state revenue. He also cautioned that the mechanism must not duplicate the work of existing agencies in customs, taxation and trade regulation, and said the goal should be data integration and risk detection, not another layer of bureaucracy for business. As a model, he pointed to Singapore’s TradeNet, which the Singapore Customs agency says has operated since 1989 as the country’s national single window for trade declarations, unifying import, export and transhipment paperwork to reduce cost, time and administrative friction.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
