The government is asked to take firm action against the invasion of illegally imported textiles into retail markets. The Association of Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers (APSyFI) said that the invasion of imported textiles entering illegally had made the domestic industry chronic. "Illegal textile imports are increasingly disturbing and are the cause of the decline in the national textile and textile products (TPT) industry in recent years," said APSyFI General Chairperson Redma Gita Wirawasta, Friday (15/9/2023). "We ask that the government immediately act decisively both on the import side and on the distribution side on the market," he added.

On the other hand, he said, there was a very large gap between Indonesia's import records based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and data on China's exports to Indonesia based on data from the General Custom Administration of China. This, he said, refers to data from the International Trade Center (ITC).

Referring to ITC data based on records from the General Custom Administration of China, he continued, China's TPT exports to Indonesia for TPT (HS 50-63) reached US$ 6.50 billion.

Meanwhile, ITC referring to BPS data noted that TPT imports from China reached US$3.55 billion.

"This means there is a gap of around US$2.95 billion. This is the value of imports that are suspected to have entered Indonesia illegally," he said.

"Meanwhile, if the assumption is that the import value per container is IDR 1.5 billion, it is estimated that around 28,480 illegal TPT containers will enter per year, or around 2,370 illegal containers per month," he explained.

In this way, he added, textile products circulating in the Indonesian market account for 41% of total consumption which is estimated to reach US$16 billion in 2022.

"This is of course very detrimental because these illegally imported goods do not pay import duties and taxes so they can be sold very cheaply on the domestic market and local products cannot compete," he said.

"This has been neglected for years. The condition of the national textile industry is chronic, several companies have closed, some have turned off many machines and many employees have been subjected to rationalization because utilization has fallen," concluded Redma.