General Chair of the Indonesian Textile Association (API), Jemmy Kartiwa Sastraatmaja, said that the weakening market conditions in the textile sector in Indonesia were also felt by the global market which was experiencing a decline in purchasing power. This decline in purchasing power is the impact of inflation that is occurring globally. "The global textile market is also not good, perhaps the purchasing power of the largest market shares such as America and Europe is also not in good condition," said Jemmy when met in Purwakarta, West Java on Thursday (21/9/2023).

He explained that the decline in purchasing power in the largest global textile markets such as America and Europe was caused by inflation which had an impact on increasing oil prices which reached 90 US dollars per barrel.

"With oil prices rising again above 90 US dollars, inflation in the US, which was already at the level of 3 percent, is now climbing above 3, approaching 4 percent. Maybe this is a signal that world conditions are still not okay," said Mendobrak. .

The sluggish trend in the Indonesian textile market, said Jemmy, has been felt since the third quarter of 2022 and according to him, currently there are no signs that the sector will recover.

Jemmy said that as steps to deal with this condition, API provided input to the government as a consideration regarding protecting the domestic market from foreign products.

"For future regulations to be better so that we can protect this domestic market, which is felt to have quite large potential, so that it is not easily entered by foreign products," said Jemmy.

He explained that Indonesian textile industry players market their products more for the domestic market than for export. Therefore, protecting the domestic market is the key to the growth of the domestic textile industry.

Jemmy said that implementing trade barrier policies or protecting imports from abroad was necessary when textile market conditions were weakening. Apart from that, there is a need to encourage people to buy domestically made textile products.

"If there is a choice, the same item at the same price, or a slightly more expensive price, see which product it is made in. If it is made in a foreign product, buy a domestic product too," said Jemmy.