President Jokowi: Indonesia’s Textile Industry is Expected to Grow

President Jokowi, accompanied by several high-ranking officials, receives committee of API and APSyFI at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (16/9). (Photo: Agung/PR)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that the global economic uncertainty including China-US trade war could be both a challenge and an opportunity for Indonesia to increase exports, particularly on textile products, synthetic fibers, and filament thread.

“Moreover, the textile and apparel industry became the highest growth industry in the second quarter of 2019, amounting to 20.71 percent. This is a very high growth and categorized as the top five contributors to Indonesia’s GDP in the second quarter of 2019, amounting to 1.30 percent,” said President Jokowi when meeting the committee and members of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) and the Association of Synthetic Fiber Producers and Indonesian Filament Thread (APSyFI), at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Monday (16/9).

However, the President continued, the growth of Indonesia’s textile and textile products market share in the global market tends to stagnate, which is around 1.6 percent. He also added that Indonesia’s position was lagging far behind China at 31.8 percent, Vietnam at 4.59 percent, and Bangladesh at 4.72 percent in 2018.

President Jokowi assumed that the low growth of exports of Indonesian textiles and textile products was due to the high cost of local production, facilities and trade policies that are more favorable to imports, as well as the lack of long-term planning which gave impact on the lack of investment.

For that reason, the President asked the API and APSyFi for input and what the Government should do to help them.

“I would like to hear suggestions and inputs from the business people. Afterwards, we will formulate and design the policy for the benefit of the business,” said President Jokowi .

He also expressed hope that the global economic turmoil will become an opportunity for Indonesia to improve and to be a turning point for industrialization in Indonesia.

Present at the occasion were, among others, Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Thomas Lembong, Head of Creative Economy Agency Triawan Munaf, Chairman of the API Ade Sudradjat, and Chairman of the APSyFI Ravi Shankar. (DND/AGG/ES)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Edited by: Yuyu Mulyani