Audience With Minister Of Purbaya, AGTI Emphasizes The Importance Of Shorting Textile Regulations For The Availability Of Raw Materials

JAKARTA - General Chairperson of the Indonesian Garmen and Textile Association (AGTI), Anne Patricia Sutanto, emphasized that simplification of national textile industry regulations and strengthening is the key to increasing competitiveness, to suppressing the rise of thrifting in the country. This was conveyed after the AGTI audience with the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadive and the ranks of the Ministry of Finance at Juanda Building, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, December 2.

Anne stated that in terms of capacity, Indonesia has great potential to meet national textile needs as well as penetrate the global market. However, a number of structural challenges and international standards are still obstacles.

Anne said the government had shown its commitment to support the smooth importation of raw materials needed by the industry, especially for sectors that have not been able to meet the domestic market. He assessed that cross-ministerial coordination needs to be strengthened so that supply is not hampered by overlapping regulations.

"If the regulations are implemented, competitiveness will increase. The government has the will to support it, it's just a matter of aligning its policies," he said.

According to Anne, imports are still needed, especially for certain types of raw materials that are not yet available domestically or do not meet global quality standards. Limited product development in several local factories makes a number of international brands still rely on imported materials to meet technical and sustainability specifications.

Our product development is still lacking. That's why some international brands prefer imported materials," he said.

Anne explained that the local industry's capabilities actually exist, but are not evenly distributed. The biggest challenge lies in fulfilling Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) which includes environmental, social, and environmentally friendly energy standards. Many factories have not been able to meet all these requirements.

"If environmental standards, permits, minimum wages, until non-pool energy is met, local products can actually be accepted by international brands," he explained.

In practice, there are still many cloth ingredients to fulfill global brand orders imported. This is because some local factories have not been able to create fabrics with quality consistent according to global standards, especially for the performance fabric and sustainable textile segments. We can be competitive, but the production is not large enough and not fast enough," said Anne.

Anne said that the need for Muslim clothing and headscarves can be mostly produced domestically. However, for certain types of fabrics, for example, those that require special finishing technology or certain handfeels are still needed because not all local factories have appropriate production facilities.

"In terms of capacity, but certain specifications still have to be imported," he explained.

According to Anne, the availability of raw materials and strengthening of local industries will help reduce people's dependence on imported clothing products (thrifting). However, the decline in Thrifting is not only dependent on domestic production, but also on enforcement of regulations and changes in market behavior.

"If competitiveness increases, local supply is strong, automatically trimming will decrease. But still need regulatory certainty," he said.