Menkop Teten: There Are 25,000 Tons Of Illegal Imported Used Clothing Entering Indonesia In 2022

Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki (center). Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki revealed, there are around 25 thousand tons of clothing used for illegal imports entering Indonesia. According to him, this could damage the domestic local industrial market.

This figure refers to data presented by the Indonesian Textile Association (API) regarding export data distributed from Malaysia. Meanwhile, only about tens of tons were recorded to enter Indonesia.

"Earlier, it was explained that the used smuggled clothes were extraordinary and in 2022 there were 25 thousand tons that entered (to Indonesia) when calculated from the exporting country. This was not recorded because it was illegal," said Teten at a press conference in Jakarta, Friday, March 31.

Of this amount, said Teten, if calculated per day, the average number of illegal used imported clothing entering Indonesia reached 350 thousand pieces.

"This really hit the clothing industry into IKM and SMEs which have been entering the local market," he said.

He said that the illegal used clothes that were sold were often aligned with the term thrifting. In fact, said Teten, Thrifting is full of branded products and the portion is not large.

According to Teten, both of them have different markets. So, he asked for a separation between the Thrifting market and the illegal used clothing market which often targets the lower middle class.

"This is a different market, especially when it is confused with the printing of Thrifting. So, these used smuggled clothes, right, go to the market for lower middle clothes because this is what is collected," he said.

Meanwhile, Teten said, the thrifting community actually bought branded clothes from abroad, but in a used state.

"Kami lihat kemarin yang di Cikarang itu, kan, enggak branded. Itu sebenarnya yang masuk pasar lokal kelas bawah, itu yang benar-benar memukul produksi IKM lokal dan di pasar domestik," pungkasnya.

Previously, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) together with other relevant ministries, institutions, and agencies such as the National Police, TNI, Customs and Excise Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry, provincial government, and district/city governments had also destroyed a number of used imported clothes.

As for a number of acts of destruction, such as in Cikarang, West Java, as many as 7,363 bal on March 28, 2023, Sidoarjo, East Java, as many as 824 bal on March 20, 2023.

Then, in Pekanbaru, Riau, as many as 730 bal on March 17, 2023. The destruction action is in accordance with the provisions of Permendag Number 36 of 2018 concerning the Implementation of Supervision of Trade Activities.