Rachmat Gobel: Furniture Industry Has Great Potential, But Sales Target Of IDR 74.3 Trillion Has Not Been Achieved Since 2019

Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives Coordinator for Industry and Development (Koribang), Rachmat Gobel. (Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives Coordinator for Industry and Development (Koribang), Rachmat Gobel said that the furniture and handicraft industry has a positive impact and plays a major role in the absorption of labor and the environment in Indonesia.

"The furniture and handicraft industry has a very broad impact on environmental issues and employment problems. For every 1 billion US dollar (export) increase, there are 400,000 workers involved," he said while visiting the Indonesia International Furniture Expo (IFEX) 2022 exhibition area. , in Jakarta, Sunday, August 21, as stated in a written statement quoted by Antara.

He also appreciated this exhibition, which also presented many recycled products so that they had a good impact on the environment.

Rachmat Gobel said Indonesia has an enormous natural wealth to support the growth of the furniture and handicraft industry. But unfortunately, various industrial raw materials that can be obtained in the country have not been used properly and sustainably.

"This needs to be empowered so that it becomes valuable. We see at the current exhibition, that many buyers from Europe, America, and others are present because they see Indonesia as having strength," he said.

Until now, the materials used for furniture and handicraft products are still dominated by wood at 65.5 percent and rattan and bamboo at 13 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Furthermore, Rachmat Gobel said that when he became the administrator of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), he had time to make a road map on how sales of the furniture and handicraft industry could reach US$5 billion, around Rp. 74.3 trillion, in 2019. However, he continued, In that era, there were still some obstacles so that the target could not be realized.

To realize the US$5 billion target, now the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industry Association (HIMKI) has drawn up a Grand Strategic Plan (GSP) for the National Furniture and Handicraft Industry of HIMKI 2022-2025.

On several occasions, the Chairman of the HIMKI Presidium, Abdul Sobur, has targeted the export value of the furniture and handicraft industry to reach US$5 billion by 2024. With the support of various parties, including the implementation of IFEX, he is quite optimistic that this target can be achieved.

"From our records, the export value of furniture and handicrafts in the first quarter of 2022 has reached 1 billion US dollars, an increase of 15.87 percent compared to the export value in the first quarter of 2021," said Abdul Sobur.

HIMKI targets the export value this year to reach 3.93 billion US dollars, and increase to 4.46 billion the following year. The achievement of this target takes into account the CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) growth of 13.41 percent.

The IFEX exhibition which is targeting the international market, he admits, has a big role in supporting the realization of this target. At IFEX 2019 the total during the exhibition reached 1.270 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, the export value of the furniture and handicraft industries in 2019 reached US$2.5 billion.

This year, the IFEX 2022 exhibition recorded the number of foreign buyers and visitors reaching more than 7,000 people from 72 countries. While the target value for direct transactions is 150 million US dollars, while follow-up is 500 million US dollars.