The recovery of the textile industry this year will rely on increasing domestic consumption. The reason is, even though the demand for exports is high, logistical constraints in the form of limited containers and high shipping costs are still obstacles. Supported by increased purchasing power, the Director of Textile, Leather and Footwear at the Ministry of Industry, Elis Masitoh, believes that the textile and textile product (TPT) industry will grow positively this year, after recording another contraction in 2021. According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the textile and apparel sector contracted -4.08 percent throughout 2021, although it was able to grow 5.94 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.

"The focus of this year's growth will of course remain on consumption, which is expected to increase, net exports will increase and investment will also be the same," said Elis, Friday (11/2/2022).

Elis continued, when viewed from the growth factors, especially in domestic consumption for clothing and footwear as well as maintenance services, the textile industry has improved.

In detail, last year the textile industry grew -6.28 percent and the apparel industry -3.31 percent. Meanwhile, the leather, leather goods and footwear industry grew 7.75 percent.

Meanwhile, the average utility capacity of the textile industry last year was recorded at 69.42 percent, 74.4 percent for the apparel industry, and 72.05 percent for the leather, leather goods and footwear industry.

In terms of production volume, the textile industry is also still experiencing a contraction of 3.97 percent from 7.20 million tons in 2020 to 6.92 million tons in 2021. Meanwhile, the volume of apparel production grew 14.47 percent from 1.41 million tons. in 2020 to 1.62 million tonnes in 2021.

The leather, leather goods and footwear industry experienced the highest growth of 33.42 percent from 793.8 million pairs to 1.05 billion pairs in 2021.

Logistical constraints will still suppress export performance this year. Meanwhile, domestic consumption can be boosted by the import substitution program, the imposition of trade remedies such as security measures import duties (BMTP) for fabrics, carpets, curtains and garments.

"Then to increase domestic consumption, especially government spending on uniforms, there is a TKDN program [domestic content level] and to attract domestic buyers in various promotional events," explained Elis.