The Association of Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers (APSyFI) claims that of the total textile production value of US$33 billion, exports absorb US$13 billion, while the rest is for the domestic market. This was stated by the Chairperson of the Association of Indonesian Filament Yarn Manufacturers (APSyFI) Redma Wirawasta. In fact, he considered that many parties misunderstood the structure of the textile market, which so far was considered to be highly dependent on exports. In fact, the domestic market is still the biggest mainstay. It's just that, lately the domestic market has been disrupted due to heavy imports, coupled with the entry of illegal goods in the form of used clothes.
"This is wrong, they always talk about exports, even though if you look at the production map, it's around US$33 billion per year, exports are only US$13," said Redma, on Monday (6/3/2023).
According to him, with this amount, it means that as much as US$20 textile products or around 60.61 percent of the total production of the national textile industry per year are actually in the domestic market. Meanwhile, textile products marketed to the global market occupy only 39.39 percent of the total national textile industry production per year.
Redma also deplored the prevailing assumption that the Indonesian textile industry exported more of its products than allocating sales to the domestic market, so that the wave of layoffs was only caused by a decrease in demand from abroad.
Even though the decline in export demand was the first cause of the sluggish textile industry, according to him, the government must also open its eyes to facilitate the domestic market for domestic industrial products.
“It is true that imported products fill the domestic market. So, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of last year, we told the government that we had many layoffs, until now they are still continuing," Redma added.
However, continued Redma, the government's response in handling this matter actually directed his party to divert exports to other countries with more stable economic conditions.
"The government always talks about moving exports, market penetration, promotion, so how do the market people get worse there," said Redma.
According to him, the impact of the weakening American and European markets due to geopolitical instability is not only the Indonesian textile industry which is languishing, but also the textile industry in other countries such as China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, as well as India.
As previously reported by Bisnis.com, based on the results of a Reuters investigation, Indonesia turned out to be a paradise for imports of used clothes and shoes. The majority of used clothing and shoes products come from Singapore. Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) policy adviser Dharmesh Shah said the large market for imported used clothing was because Indonesia did not have strict rules for this matter.
"The flow of cheap and unregulated used clothes," said Dharmesh, on Tuesday (28/2/2023).
According to him, used goods imported from various countries, especially Singapore, actually have a very small percentage that can be reused, so that it will add to the waste problem in the destination country.
Moreover, when interviewed by Reuters, two traders who sell their wares at the Batam used goods market said that traders usually buy goods in sacks, without knowing the exact contents of the sacks. Thus, it is not uncommon for traders to throw away more than half of the contents of the sacks they buy, because they are not fit for sale.
