Increasing the absorption of textile production in the country can be achieved by shifting the consumption pattern of fiber raw materials. Indonesia is listed as a producer of the world's two main fibers, polyester and rayon, but their use is not optimal.
Chairman of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) Ravi Shankar explained that cotton no longer dominates global fiber consumption. In contrast, consumption preferences in various regions have shifted to man-made fibers.
“Indonesia's per capita fiber consumption before the pandemic was 8.1 kilograms, while South Asia's average was 10 kilograms. There are opportunities that we can take advantage of,” said Ravi.
He said global fiber demand continues to grow, with demand from the apparel sector as the largest contributor. However, the portion of the apparel sector has tended to decline in the last 30 years. From initially reaching 70 percent of the total fiber demand in the 1990s to only about 50 percent in 2020.
The new demand actually comes from the industrial textile sector in developed and developing countries. Household textiles also recorded a relatively stable demand opportunity. This opens up opportunities for functional textile products.
In Indonesia, fiber consumption is dominated by polyester with a share of 50 percent or 1.08 million tons. The position of polyester fiber is followed by cotton by 29 percent and viscose by 16 percent.
"If you look at the large polyester and rayon production capacity and dependence on cotton imports, Indonesia has the opportunity to substitute cotton because Indonesia is one of the largest producers of non-natural fibers," he added.
Ravi explained that polyester and rayon can be applied to various types of clothing with functions that include personal protection, medical clothing, sports and hobby clothing, home textiles, and military clothing.
This optimization, continued Ravi, is important considering that Indonesia's filament yarn production has tended to decline by an average of 1.1 percent annually since 2008. Meanwhile, polyester fiber production grew slightly by an average of 2.2 percent per year.
On the same occasion, the Director General of the Chemical, Textile and Pharmaceutical Industry of the Ministry of Industry Muhammad Khayam said the textile and textile product industry was one of the strategic industries that was hardest hit by Covid-19. This industry recorded a contraction of 4.54 percent in the second quarter of 2021 on an annual basis.
“However, on a quarterly basis, it started to grow 0.48 percent. Exports during the first semester of 2021 also grew 13 percent and investment rose 27 percent," said Khayam.
Khayam said the government had taken a number of steps to minimize the impact of Covid-19 on the textile industry and textile products in the country. One of them is by developing the textile raw material industry from domestic industry.
This development is pursued by increasing the capacity of the rayon industry from 856,700 tons at present to 1.21 million tons in 2023 and its dissolving pulp capacity to 1.31 million tons. In addition, increasing the utilization of the polyester fiber and filament industry to 70 percent by 2023 is also one of the targets.
