60 Textile Companies Donate In The Last Two Years, Ministry Of Industry: Many Policies Need To Support

JAKARTA - A total of 60 textile companies have closed in the last two years (2022-2024).

As a result, around 250,000 employees experienced layoffs or layoffs.

Related to this, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Eko SA Cahyanto also opened his voice.

Eko said that many policies were needed to deal with the problem of the collapse of the textile industry.

"That, right, involves a lot of policies that must support all," said Eko when met after the event "Industrial Kaleidoscope Wrapped 2024 & Branding Jakarta Digital Industrial Parkway at Cibis Park, Simatupang, South Jakarta, Wednesday, December 18.

Eko assessed that the industrial climate needs to be properly maintained in order to maintain the growth of the industry itself.

"Iklim usaha industri memang harus dijaga dengan baik, ya, agar bisa menjaga pertumbuhan industri," pungkasnya.

Previously, the Association of Indonesian Filamentary Filaments & Filament Manufacturers (APSyFI) said, as many as 60 textile companies were closed in the last two years (2022-2024).

This data also shows that the textile industry in Indonesia is declining sharply.

"Finally, around 250,000 employees experienced layoffs (PHK)," said APSYFI General Chair Redma Gita Wirawatasta in a written statement, quoted Wednesday, December 18.

Redma assessed that the closure of these textile companies was triggered by the increasing number of illegal imports flowing into the domestic market without strict government control.

This worsens the condition of the textile industry in Indonesia, which has actually experienced deindustrialization for the last 10 years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, textile imports from China were stopped, so the national industry had experienced recovery.

However, when the lockdown ended and imports reopened, illegal goods flooded the domestic market, which forced many companies to stop operating.

This condition, said Redma, also has an impact on related sectors, such as the petrochemical industry and the production of Purified Terephtalytic Acid (PTA), namely textile main raw materials.

According to him, if PTA's production is disrupted, electricity demand for the textile sector will decrease.

"The problem is uncontrolled imports. This reduces our industrial utilization and has an impact on other sectors, such as electricity and logistics," he said.

Eko said, the textile industry is actually very important for the Indonesian economy, with a contribution of 11.73 percent to electricity consumption in the industrial sector and 5.56 percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

However, most of the domestic market is now filled with illegal imported goods that cause losses to the state, both in terms of taxes and import duties.

"Imports are illegal to become the main killer for the Indonesian textile industry, with around 40 percent of goods entering Indonesia and not officially registered," said Redma.