The Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan is optimistic that Indonesia's share of footwear exports to the global market will continue to increase. For this reason, the government continues to work hard to build strategic agreements with trading partner countries so that trade tariff barriers can be removed. "The government will continue to work hard to build a 'toll way' with partner countries so that it is tariff-free. So that Indonesia's footwear market share in the world market continues to increase," said Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan.

Zulkifli also revealed that the government would expedite the completion of trade agreements with partner countries. One of them is the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the European Union. "Hopefully the completion of the CEPA with the European Union can be accelerated," said Zulkifli.

Indonesia is ranked 6th as the world's largest footwear exporter with a contribution of 4.1 percent to the global footwear market in 2022. In that year, Indonesia's footwear exports to the world reached USD 7.74 billion and showed positive growth of 12 .4 percent over the last five years (2018 – 2022).

Furthermore, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) also released exports of Nike footwear products from PT Always Cinta Indonesia in Salatiga, Central Java worth USD 96 thousand to the European Union (EU). This release is a momentum for Indonesia as part of the global supply chain for world footwear products.

"This release of exports is a momentum to expand the export market for Indonesian products and can make Indonesia part of the global supply chain for world footwear products. It is hoped that this release of exports will also drive the wheels of the Indonesian economy during the post-pandemic recovery period," said the Director General (Dirjen) of National Export Development (PEN), Didi Sumedi.

In global footwear trade, in 2022 Indonesia will rank 6th as a world footwear exporter with a share of 4.16 percent. In that year, Indonesia's footwear exports were recorded at USD 7.74 billion, growing quite significantly by 25.1 percent compared to the previous year which was recorded at USD 6.18 billion.

Over the past five years (2018-2022), the trend of Indonesian footwear exports to the world has shown a positive growth of 12.4 percent. In this period, the five main export destination countries with a positive trend were the United States with a trend of 17.45 percent, Belgium (24.25 percent), China (14.32 percent), Germany (9.40 percent) and Japan (1 .90 percent).

Furthermore, despite facing severe challenges and the threat of a recession, the Indonesian economy was able to grow positively by 5.31 percent (yoy) in 2022. One of the sectors that has become a catalyst in boosting national economic performance is the textile and textile products (TPT) industry. and Footwear.

In 2022, the TPT trade balance performance experienced a surplus of USD 3.71 billion, an increase of 3.34 percent compared to the previous period. Likewise with footwear, which experienced a surplus of USD 1.03 billion, an increase of 41 percent compared to the previous period. The United States and Europe are still the main export destination countries for these two industries.

Indonesia itself has the potential to become a major market, production base, and export center for the world's TPT and footwear industries with many advantages. Indonesia is a country with the 16th largest economy in the world, has a very small chance of a recession of 3 percent in 2023, has a very large domestic market with a population of 273 million, a significantly increased demographic bonus, and relatively stable political and economic

Previously, the Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita also revealed that, until June 2022, the textile industry would remain our mainstay export commodity with a value that penetrated up to USD 6.08 billion or contributing 5.51 percent to total national exports.

Even in the midst of global pressure and the impact of the pandemic, the Minister of Industry is optimistic that the textile industry will continue to aggressively expand its export market, with an achievement target of USD 13-14 billion throughout 2022.

"The performance of the textile industry is also expected to remain high, mainly driven by rapid sales growth through e-commerce platforms and consumer awareness of the principles of sustainability in the textile production process along with commitments to reduce carbon and water consumption in the production process," said Agus.