The effects of the US economic slowdown on the Indonesian economy are starting to be felt. The Central Statistics Agency, aka BPS, noted that exports of clothing and sports shoes fell by more than 20% during the first quarter of this year, especially for shipments to the United States. Textile apparel exports during the first quarter of this year amounted to US$ 1.74 billion, down 21.04% compared to the same period last year. "Exports of this commodity mainly fell for exports to the United States and South Korea," said BPS Deputy for Methodology and Statistical Information Imam Machdi in an online press conference, Monday (17/4).

Exports of textile apparel to the US fell 31.4% compared to the first quarter of last year, followed by exports to South Korea which fell 4.92%. However, this decline was compensated for by an increase in shipments to Japan of 14.93%.

The decline in exports also occurred in sports shoes. The export value of this commodity fell 27.24% to US$ 1.13 billion during the first three months of this year.

The decline in sports shoe exports also occurred for shipments to the US which fell 39.61%. Exports to China and Belgium also fell by 38.28% and 17.05% respectively.

Domestic demand is also not that good despite the momentum of Ramadan and Eid. This causes the performance of the textile industry and textile products to be assessed as still not recovering.

"Usually from two or three months before Ramadan their orders are full, but this year it is a little different, they complain that their orders are greatly reduced and have decreased by up to 30%," said Chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association or API, Jemmy Kartiwa Sastraatmadja, Monday (3/ 4).

Jemmy said the decline was quite significant compared to last year. In 2022, TPT growth is good enough to reach 70% for both exports and domestic.

As a result of the industry's performance which has not fully recovered, Jemmy said that hundreds of thousands of textile and textile product or TPT workers are also still at home due to the fact that demand for exports, especially to the United States and Europe, has not yet recovered. "Demand for exports decreased significantly due to inflation in the United States and Europe," he said