Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) of the Republic of Indonesia, Dody Widodo, said that until now the demand for textile products from export markets in the United States, Australia and China is still stable. “As of today, the demand that has decreased is from Europe, while the United States [United States], Australia and China have remained stable. The percentage of the European market is very large, now in order to benefit from the declining market, we need to try to find new markets," said Dody when met by the media crew at the Proud Total Know Local Products Talkshow at Ono Solo Coffee & Eatery, Solo, Friday (5 /52023).

The markets he is referring to include the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, and countries that were not previously export destinations for Indonesian textile and textile products (TPT).

According to Dody, the promotion of local products in foreign markets also needs to cooperate with other ministries because the Ministry of Industry has focused on increasing the production of domestic products with good quality and in large quantities.

Dody said the TPT industry's exports had now exceeded conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic, so this was something to be proud of.

He said, although the contribution of TPT exports was not as much as before the pandemic, there was an increase in TPT exports from just 20-30% during Covid-19 to 45%. The next task is to optimize TPT exports to reach above 50%.

Meanwhile, on a different occasion, PT Sunwoo Garment's HRD & GA Manager, Niko Siahaan, said that the Sunwoo Garment company had locked in profits during the first half of 2023 and the following semester.

"Indeed there has been a decrease in orders, but if we break it down, it will only be a maximum of 20% of the usual total orders," said Niko, Friday (5/5/2023).

Niko said that PT Sunwoo Garment is also still actively recruiting new employees, so he is optimistic that conditions will improve even though there is a threat that the export market from the United States (US) will dim due to the country's failure to pay off its national debt.

Products that are still selling from Sunwoo Garment are children's clothing and winter coats for the winter. Niko hopes that the condition of other garment factories in Central Java will also be better and there will be no export problems.