The Covid-19 pandemic has brought its own blessings to the domestic textile and textile product (TPT) industry, because there has been a strengthening of the structure and integration of the industry from upstream to downstream. Secretary General of the Indonesian Filament Yarn and Fiber Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta explained that the bottleneck in imports of raw materials for the downstream industry has spurred utilization and investment in the intermediate industry. Likewise, the performance of the upstream industry was boosted due to the increasing demand for raw materials for the Antara industry due to import constraints.

"Intermediate raw materials can be met by upstream, downstream raw materials can be met by intermediate. So this is a blessing for us, from upstream to downstream so we can all work and be integrated," said Redma, Sunday (12/5/2021).

Redma said that raw materials in the upstream industry experienced a nearly ten-fold increase in price. However, the volume does not dominate, so it can still be anticipated.

In the future, this integration must continue to be encouraged considering that the garment industry is still dependent on imported raw materials, especially from China and South Korea.

 “We cannot increase exports, because of the dependence on raw materials from China and South Korea. After China's energy crisis and Korea's freight costs are expensive, it becomes inefficient. Like it or not, local raw materials are needed,” explained Redma.

 He continued, if the situation continues to be supported by continuous market protection policies, the textile industry will be able to grow exports exponentially in 2024–2025.

The government was also asked to be careful when opening the tap for imports of raw materials in order to maintain this momentum.

 "Importers who are looking for quick profits like to tempt the government, that's the problem. Don't let the government reopen imports," said Redma.