Illegal textile imports still haunt the textile industry and textile production (TPT). Therefore, the Association of Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers (APSyFI) again asked the government to seriously eradicate it. APSyFI Chairperson Redma Gita Wirawasta stated, the flood of imported textile goods has increasingly depressed the performance of the TPT industry so that the average utility from upstream to downstream is only around 50 percent. Based on APSyFI's calculations, annually there are 300 to 400 thousand tonnes of illegal TPT imports valued at IDR 35 trillion. Both in the form of clothes, fabrics, and threads. "About 1,400 containers per month enter through the main ports in Java and some via Sumatra," he said.

He added, around 210 thousand tons came from China. The rest are from South Korea, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Thailand. "We can see clearly from the data from the trade map that China's TPT exports to Indonesia are greater than our import records from China," he said.

Redma explained that the difference in data was due to the practice of wholesale imports, under invoices, escape from HS, and seepage of bonded warehouses. "This practice is freely and openly carried out by under-name service companies in collaboration with customs officials in the field so that it is easy to enter via the green channel, without even needing an import approval," he explained.

He also highlighted TPT import approvals related to Permendag Number 25 of 2022, which still had many leaks. Redma received reports that there were still many companies committing violations and were given excess import permits, both by the Ministry of Industry for API-P and by the Ministry of Trade for API-U. "The import permits granted were not transparent, the violators were never prosecuted, instead the import permits continued to increase," he said.

West Java Hipmi Honor Council Cecep Daryus stated, the national textile industry is still in a critical period since the end of 2022, including in West Java. “At the end of last year, many were laid off. If conditions like this continue, it will add more,'' he said.

Cecep asked the government, both regional and central, not to let go of this incident. "Indeed, the condition of the export market is one of the reasons, but our domestic market is very large and must be maintained," he said.