The unstoppable wave of imported products is said to be the dominant cause of the decline in the national textile and textile products (TPT) industry. In addition, the trade war between the United States (US) and China and the prolonged conflict between Ukraine and Russia also contributed to the performance of the domestic TPS industry. Chairman of the Central Java Indonesian Textile Association (BPP) Provincial Management Board (BPP API), Dewanto Kusuma Wibowo explained various problems faced by the national textile industry before the pandemic until now.

“Before the pandemic emerged, there was a trade war between the United States and China. This may be 2019. So that the utilization of textile products is reduced," he said in the Industry Trends group discussion (FGD) entitled Reading the Economic Direction Through Records of Electricity Consumption at Radya Litera, Saturday (29/7/2023).

In this activity in collaboration with PLN and Solopos, Dewanto gave an example of selling imported used clothes or thrifting which is detrimental to the textile industry, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Currently, the government has banned imported used clothing from entering the country.

"Used clothing is quite reduced. Maybe it's used up old stock now," he said.

Based on the data, imports of used clothing still dominate. The largest was from China at 47. Meanwhile, the textile export market was in the United States and Europe.

According to Dewanto, at this time, the sale and purchase of textile products is rife without tax.

"Supervision is not strict enough so that used clothes enter Indonesia easily. Through the paths of rats in the waters," he said.

Previously, on the same occasion, Commissioner of PLN, Eko Sulistyo encouraged the government to make breakthroughs while strengthening economic cooperation in global trade routes.

The move was taken to boost the performance of the manufacturing sector as the main contributor to the economy. According to Eko, electricity is a measuring tool or instrument for regional and national economic growth.

"The government must make new breakthroughs to boost the performance of the manufacturing industry. We can carry out economic cooperation in global trade routes," he said.

In addition, the government must also strengthen bilateral economic cooperation which has positive implications for the level of the national economy.

This has become the leverage of the textile industry with most of the market share abroad. Furthermore, Eko said that the textile industry has a big contribution in the economic niche.

Indeed, the growth of the textile industry was affected by the unfinished Ukrainian-Russian war. However, now logistical restrictions have been relaxed.

“There are also carbon restrictions that came into force in Europe in June. All goods will be tracked if they are not up to standard," he said.