Textile and textile product industry players admit that they are still under pressure, as export demand is sluggish. In fact, this condition will last until next year. Many garment factories have collapsed due to this decrease in foreign demand. In Bisnis records on Tuesday (8/11/2022), as many as 64,000 textile industry workers operating in West Java Province were reported to have been laid off (PHK). In addition, 18 companies were also reported to have closed. A garment factory that was recorded as having collapsed due to reduced demand from outside, PT Tuntex Garment Indonesia, a textile factory that produces the Puma brand, was forced to lay off 1,163 of its workers because they were unable to pay wages.

PT Tuntex is known to be a clothing manufacturer with the trade name Puma which is marketed overseas. However, from last year Tuntex began to lose its market with many canceled orders, until it stopped operating completely.

On the other hand, based on the records of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the export performance of textile products, which is compiled under the Harmonized System (HS) code 61 Clothing and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted, is still on a positive trend. In terms of value, it even recorded an increase compared to the previous year. According to data compiled by BPS, in 2022 the export value of HS 61 was recorded at US$4.6 billion or the equivalent of IDR 69.53 trillion (at an exchange rate of IDR 14,859).

This figure increased by 6.52 percent from HS 61 exports in 2021 which reached US$4.39 billion or IDR 65.27 trillion.

Textile and Footwear Industry Employees Dropped, This Is a Row of Factories Laying Off Thousands of Employees Although in terms of export volume, there was a decrease of 6.21 percent compared to the previous year. In 2022, RI exported 236,709.97 tons of TPT industrial products, while in 2021 it exported 252,403.97 tons of TPT industrial products.

Continuing to the previous year, exports of textile products in 2021 recorded an increase of 31.11 percent in value and an increase of 13.7 percent in volume. Because in 2020, RI exported 221,838.52 tons of textiles with a value of US$3.35 billion or the equivalent of Rp.49.78 trillion. Even though we are starting to enter the pandemic period, the textile industry's export performance in 2020 is relatively not depressed.

Because, when compared to export performance in 2019, there was only a slight decline. In 2019, the domestic textile industry was recorded as exporting 224,296.44 tons of textile products, which means that exports in 2020 were 221,838.52 tons, experiencing a slight decrease of 1.09 percent.

Likewise, when viewed in terms of value, exports in 2020 decreased by 10.97 percent from US$3.76 billion or Rp.55.92 trillion in 2019 to US$3.35 billion or Rp.49.78 trillion in 2020. The decline in exports continued export decline trend in the previous year.

This is because compared to 2019, exports in 2019 also experienced a decline. In terms of volume, it was recorded to have decreased by .. percent from 244,815.32 tons in 2018 to 224,296.44 tons in 2019. Meanwhile, in terms of value, it had decreased by 7.47 percent from US$4.06 billion or the equivalent of Rp. 60.44 trillion in 2018 to US$3.76 billion or Rp55.92 trillion in 2019.