It is admitted that the increasing trend in world crude oil prices has affected the prices of a number of raw materials for the manufacture of textile products.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta said that the increase in global oil prices had been going on since early February. This certainly raises the price of Paraxylene (PX), Purified Terephtalic Acid (PTA), and Methyl Ethylene Glycol (MEG) which are the raw materials for fiber and filament yarn.

The increase in commodity prices also boosted the price of pulp as raw material for rayon fiber and also increased the price of cotton because the cost of cargo was also increasing. "If the fiber and yarn increase, automatically the fabric will also increase. This happens in all oil derivative sectors, especially chemicals, "added Redma.

Both fiber and filament yarn are downstream products from the petrochemical industry as well as upstream products or raw materials for the manufacture of textile products. Redma took an example, when the price of PTA and MEG increased by about 40%, automatically the selling price of raw materials such as fiber and filament yarn could also increase by around 20% -25%. This of course also affects the textile industry in the downstream sector.

However, it also needs to be seen as a whole that the increase in oil prices is a global phenomenon, so that normally the prices of goods whose raw materials come from these commodities also rise. "Unless there are imported goods that are subsidized by the country and sold at dumping prices," he said.

Redma continued, the fiber and filament yarn industry players actually did not reduce production amid the increasing trend of world oil prices. It's just that, industry players inevitably have to raise the selling price even at the risk of not getting a profit for a while.

"We understand that this increase will burden the downstream industry," he explained.

Thus, he assessed, as long as the government can curb the phenomenon of the circulation of dumping imported goods, the downstream textile business actors, including those with the Small and Medium Industry (IM) scale, still have room to develop.