Textile Association Asks Retailers To Prioritize Domestic Products: Local Goods Are Also Classy

JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Filament Filaments and Fiaments Manufacturers (APSYFI) has requested that retailers be more nationalist and take sides with domestic products.

This follows protests made by the Association of Indonesian Global Brand Retail Entreprentrepregindo (Apregindo) against Permendag Number 3 of 2024 concerning Amendments to Permendag Number 36 of 2023 concerning Import Policy and Regulation which took effect on March 10.

APSYFI General Chairperson Redma Gita Wirawasta assessed that since the enactment of this regulation, the trend of performance in the textile and textile product (TPT) industry sector has started to go positively and all national TPT industry stakeholders have requested that this rule continue without changes and delays.

Previously, Apregindo objected to the enactment of this rule and asked for a postponement and highlighted technical regulations (Pertek) that were considered burdensome for the import process.

"In fact, that is the goal, the President's order (Jokowi) in October last year, is very clear so that imports are more controlled because they are already at the level of making layoffs everywhere. Through this Permendag, the government regulates that imports be substituted by local goods," said Redma in a written statement received by VOI, quoted Monday, March 25.

Regarding the Pertek that Apregindo complained about, Redma stated that this regulation, issued in December 2023, should have been able to take care of Pertek based on Permenperin 5 of 2024.

"Apregindo members also, right, have pocketed the Import Approval (PI) until the end of 2024. For imports in 2025, you still have 9 months. Right, just take care of it," he said.

Furthermore, Redma asked retailers to be more nationalist and accommodate local goods rather than imported goods. The reason is, many local brands are also good and classy.

"If they are not given the opportunity to enter the mall, they will find it difficult to develop and we will continue to depend on imported products," he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) Jemmy Kartiwa assessed that this Permendag is very important for the domestic textile industry and is expected to have a positive impact.

The change in post-border rules to border can help tighten supervision for imports of goods into the TPT sector.

"At the very least, this rule provides an opportunity for the domestic TPT industry to rise and be able to compete with legal imported products. This will also increase the competitiveness of domestic industries in the global market," he said.

Therefore, API thanked the government, in this case the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) and the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) for providing full support until this regulation was ratified.

The chairman of the Bandung Convection Entrepreneurs Association, Nandi Herdiaman, said that after the implementation of this Permendag, orders that entered the IKM centers for the Java Island region began to experience a very large spike.

"To the extent that we were overwhelmed by finding workers, because some of the tailors who came here were sent home," he said.

Therefore, Nandi asked the government to consistently implement this regulation to protect textile SMEs and SMEs from the onslaught of imported goods.

"We also thank the Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs who always defends small producers like us," he added.