The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki said that the government would limit or restrict the import of textile products as a follow-up to a report from the Indonesian Textile Association (API) which recorded unrecorded imports (imports not recorded) of textile products reaching 31%. "Essentially, we and the Minister of Trade, to protect the domestic market, which has so far been supplied by MSME textile products, were hit by the two things. Unrecorded imports reached 31% of apparel, including illegal used clothing," he said at a press conference at the Ministry of Cooperatives Office. and UKM, Jakarta, Monday (27/3/2023).
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Minister Teten emphasized that the import of ready-made clothes, especially illegal used clothes, is very disruptive to the local market because it is certain that local products cannot compete in terms of price with illegal used clothes which are waste and do not require production costs. "If these illegal used clothes enter because they come here as trash, it's impossible for us to be able to compete, our MSMEs will surely die in the domestic market," he said.
In addition to unrecorded imports which reached 31%, in total, API also noted that imported legal textile products in the form of apparel and footwear controlled 43% of the domestic market.
Therefore, the Minister of Teten and the Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan agreed to place restrictions on imports of textile products. Currently, many countries have implemented restrictions.
Teten gave an example of strict palm oil exports to Europe, not to mention the export of bananas to the American market which requires verification through 21 certificates with three of which must be reviewed every 6 months.
In accordance with President Joko Widodo's (Jokwoi) instructions, Teten, along with other ministries and the police, agreed to eradicate the import of used clothes. Apart from taking action against importers, the government builds literacy for traders to protect domestic products.
“They have legal risks if they sell illegal products. Even though we have emphasized earlier to the retailers, we are not repressing these imported second-hand clothing resellers, unlike drugs," he explained.
