The leather, leather goods and footwear industry grew positively by 13.12 percent in the second quarter of this year. This brilliant performance is in the top three in the manufacturing sector. This is due to the high demand for exports, the better attractiveness of investment, and the diversion of orders from several global brands to Indonesia. “Utilities of the leather industry, leather goods, and footwear also increased to 84.49 percent last July. Meanwhile, utilities before the pandemic were around 80.18 percent," said Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in Jakarta Tuesday (6/9).

One of the steps that are routinely carried out is the promotion and introduction of footwear, leather, and finished leather products, especially in the domestic market. For example, holding the 2022 Leather Shoes and Fashion Exhibition.

"This exhibition is the right effort as a means of product introduction and business matching industry as a bridge between business actors (B2B) and between business actors and consumers (B2C) as well as a means to increase the use of domestic products in the leather, leather finished goods, and leather sectors. and footwear,” said Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry Dody Widodo yesterday.

On that occasion, an MoU was held between national footwear manufacturers represented by the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo) and domestic leather producers represented by the Indonesian Tanners Association (APKI). The goal is to increase inter-industry linkages as well as efforts to make the import substitution program a success.

"This MoU is also to ensure that the supply chain between upstream and downstream of the domestic shoe industry is actually realized," said Acting Director General of Chemical, Pharmaceutical, and Textile Industries Ignatius Warsito.

Not only has the potential in the domestic sphere, domestic shoe production has also penetrated the export market. Records from the Indonesian Footwear Association (Asprisindo) reveal that shoe export growth is 28.3 percent in 2021 with a value of USD 6.15 billion. What is Indonesia's position in the sixth rank of footwear exporter in the world.

“This year, export growth continues to rise. The increase is above 40 percent," said Secretary General of Aprisindo Lany Sulaiman.

Meanwhile, the export value of leather, finished leather goods, and footwear as of June 2022 was recorded at USD 4.62 billion, an increase of 41.26 percent compared to the same period in the previous year of USD 3.26 billion.