API urge govt to regulate imports to protect domestic market

Indonesia domestic market continue to flood with cheap imported textile products hitting the market with losses. The Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat has urged the government to regulate imports to protect the domestic market from imported textile products and also the illegal smuggling of used clothes.

API chairman Ade Sudrajat on Friday said that the domestic market was expected to continue to be flooded with imported products in the next two to three years. The government could control the wave of textile imports, primarily from China, by setting a reference price.

Based Industry Ministry data, the textile industry experienced a loss of Rp 30 trillion (US$2.2 billion) per year due to rampant illegal smuggling.

Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono, the ministry’s director general for chemicals, textile and miscellaneous industry, said that the utilization of the textile’s upstream industry currently stands at 50 to 60 percent. Thus, there should be a new policy to support the industry and also create a new regulation to control textile imports.

The ministry’s director general for chemicals, textile and miscellaneous industry would be collaborating with the Trade Ministry and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to curb illegal imports.