Himki: Opportunities For Furniture And Indonesian Crafts Products To Enter The Global Market For Wide Opening

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Furniture and Crafts Industry Association (Himki) stated that the opportunity to enter the global market for furniture and national handicraft products is still wide open.

According to Presidium Chairman Himki Abdul Sobur, this is due to the rampant development which is projected to create considerable demand for national furniture and handicraft products.

"Although the condition of the world economy has not yet recovered due to geopolitical conditions, it turns out that demand for furniture and handicraft products is still growing," he said in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Monday, June 19.

Currently, he continued, on the sidelines of the Himki National Leadership Meeting (Rapimnas) in Solo, Central Java on June 16-17, 2023, China still leads as the largest exporter of world furniture products.

Thus, according to him, in fact, global market opportunities for furniture and handicraft products are still open due to the proliferation of development which is projected to create a fairly large demand for national furniture and handicraft products.

Abdul Sobur added that until now the US and European markets are the largest markets for national furniture and handicraft products, however, Indonesia must continue to strive to penetrate new markets.

Moreover, he added, the declining condition of traditional market demand (US and Europe), in which the two regions experienced considerable inflation.

"To anticipate if the situation worsens, we must utilize and optimize emerging markets, such as the Middle East, India and other Asian markets," he said.

According to him, various efforts to improve the national furniture and handicraft industry will be discussed at rapidas, considering that the sector is a future industry for Indonesia because it has enormous development potential, both in terms of raw materials, human resources, and market absorption.

The furniture and handicraft industry, he continued, is one of the priority industries that produces high-valued, global competitive products, as a country's foreign exchange earner and absorbs significant amounts of labor, and is supported by adequate sources of raw materials in the form of wood, rattan, and bamboo.

According to him, the competitiveness of Indonesia's furniture and handicraft industries in the global market lies in abundant and sustainable natural raw materials, supported by a diversity of patterns and designs characterized by local characteristics, as well as supported by competent human resources (HR).

Citing BPS data, Abdul Sobur revealed that the export of Indonesian furniture and handicraft products during January-March 2023 was valued at USD 658.85 million, down 34.6 percent compared to the same period in 2022 which reached USD 1.01 billion.

The US is still the largest export destination country by contributing 53.76 percent followed by Japan 6.41 percent, the Netherlands 4.12 percent, and Germany 3.53 percent.

Meanwhile, regarding the export target of national furniture and handicraft products by 2024, he said the government set a value of 5 billion US dollars.

In 2021, export realizations will reach 3.47 billion US dollars, he added, so that in the remainder of the year to reach 5 billion US dollars by 2024, the growth that must be achieved is an average of 13.41 percent tofu per year.

"This means that it is lighter than the previous growth target of 16.39 percent per year. However, due to a decline in 2022, growth must reach 24.83 percent," he said.

Meanwhile, Secretary General Himki Heru Prasetyo added that this year's Rapimnas Himki carries the theme "Strengthen Organizational Solidity to Support Acceleration of Furniture Industry Growth and National Crafts".

"Rapimnas is held in Solo, because this city has enormous potential, of which 60 percent of SMEs are in the Central Java region," he said.