The midstream segment of the textile industry is still a bottleneck in Indonesia's efforts to implement technology 4.0. So far, only 50 percent of companies have kept up with the plan. This was conveyed by the Chairperson of the Indonesian Filament Fiber and Yarn Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta. According to him, the obstacle is the ability of entrepreneurs to invest in that segment. "Because the midstream segment is mostly filled by medium-sized businesses, so the ability to invest is limited. In fact, only to buy yarn and fabric-producing machines," said Redma, Friday (21/10/2022).

In addition, the entry of imported goods from China since 2012 has further suppressed the competitiveness of some midstream textile entrepreneurs. The situation was then made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In contrast to the upstream textile sector. Redma said the implementation of technology 4.0 on the upstream side had been carried out thoroughly after the first 3 years of President Joko Widodo's administration.

Starting from production machines, data collection on manufacturer's activities, sales, tax matters, to factory temperatures operate through an integrated system.

"Before President Jokowi's administration, only the production line was integrated," he continued.

Seeing this inequality, he hopes that the government will provide protection for textile entrepreneurs in the midstream segment, especially from imported goods, so that the domestic and export markets can be optimized.

Apsyfi noted that the Indonesian people's annual consumption of garment products is 1.8 million tons. As many as 70 percent of them are produced domestically, both with local and foreign raw materials.

The rest, garment products in the domestic market are filled by products from a number of countries. The majority are from China, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Vietnam.

In addition, there are 300,000 tons of illegal garment products that enter Indonesia per year. This amount is equivalent to about 15 percent of Indonesian people's garment consumption.

The government was also asked to close the tap on imports of textiles and textile products which were opened in the second quarter of 2022. Currently, the national textile industry has been burdened with a 0 percent tariff on garment imports from Thailand.

In addition, other giant textile exporting countries such as Bangladesh have also been freed from the safeguard rules, although they are still subject to an entry tariff of 15 percent for their products.

As is known, the textile and clothing industry is one of five sectors that are the focus of the Jokowi government in realizing the ideals of industry 4.0 in the country.

However, the slow progress of implementing technology 4.0 in the midstream segment has become a homework for the government in increasing manufacturing and labor productivity through the application of technology.