A number of industrial sectors in the country are still having difficulty targeting recovery after a year after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although signs of improvement have begun to appear since the fourth quarter of 2020, business players estimate that it will take longer to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The Indonesian Tire Manufacturers Association (APBI) Azis Pane said the heaviest pressure on the tire industry occurred in the first 4 months of the pandemic.

He explained that the shipping process for export is difficult to implement due to the quarantine policies implemented in various countries. This was exacerbated by falling demand for the automotive industry in line with weakening demand. "Exports during the first 4 months were devastated because there were no ships and demand fell. Domestic factories have their capacity dropped to only 30 to 40 percent, ”said Azis.

Not much different, the textile industry has experienced a fairly slow recovery. Chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) Jemmy Kartiwa Sastraatmadja explained that improved utilization occurred after the government closely monitored the trading system for these products in the domestic market. "For the fourth quarter the utilization is 70 percent, better than before the pandemic. But I was hampered by strict PPKM policies in early 2021, "said Jemmy.

The textile industry in the country felt the heaviest pressure in the second quarter when utilization remained at only 30 percent. Utilization slowly increased to 50 percent in the third quarter although the performance was still down 19.8 percent when compared to the previous year. "For exports, too, is not an easy matter because many countries prioritize their domestic market and tend to be protective," he said.

The textile and textile products industry was one of the sectors with the biggest decline in exports. Data from the Ministry of Trade shows that exports of textile products fell 18.74 percent from US $ 4.47 billion to US $ 3.64 billion in 2020.