National Furniture Industry Still Weakening, This Is The Ministry Of Industry's Step

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The national furniture industry has also experienced the impact of weakening global markets due to the geopolitical situation that occurred due to the Russian and Ukrainian wars. Inflation caused by recession caused a decline in consumer purchasing power in war-affected importing countries, especially European and US countries.

"In order to improve the global market and improve the furniture domestic market, we are absorbing several basic issues faced by the current domestic furniture and handicraft industry, and are trying to provide solutions," said Director General of Agro Industry of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin), Putu Juli Ardika in a written statement, quoted Monday, March 13.

The first issue, namely domestic problems related to the supply chain of raw materials. In order to ensure the availability and stability of raw materials supply, the Ministry of Industry is making efforts to improve the supply chain of furniture industry raw materials with a focus on providing better access to the raw materials of the furniture industry, so that the ideal furniture raw material supply chain pattern is achieved.

"The steps taken include minimizing costs and lead time production, as well as spurring the quality of raw materials according to the needs of the furniture industry," said Putu.

Currently, what is being implemented is facilitating logistics centers for furniture industry raw materials, as well as coordinating between ministries and institutions regarding the issue of easy access to furniture industry raw materials.

The second issue is related to technology and human resources (HR). On the technological side, the Directorate General of Agro Industry at the Ministry of Industry is implementing a restructuring program for the machinery and equipment of the wood processing industry.

"The output of this program is the company's facilitation in obtaining discounts in the form of replacement (reimburse) in part of the purchase price of machinery and/or equipment," said Putu.

Meanwhile, in order to support the provision of skilled workers, the Ministry of Industry will print a number of competent human resources in the furniture industry through the establishment of the Wood Furniture and Processing Polytechnic in Kendal, Central Java.

"The curriculum in the Ministry of Industry's polytechnic is dynamic, adapted to market needs. Therefore, we are actively opening up a space for cooperation with industry associations in the preparation of the curriculum, so that our polytechnic graduates really meet the needs of the labor market," said Putu.

The third issue is the implementation of the Kayu Legality Verification System (SVLK) which has been recognized in the timber trade between the European Union and Indonesia, as well as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT-VPA).

The Indonesian government will encourage mutual recognition assessments (MRA) that can accommodate the recognition of Indonesian standardization in destination countries and vice versa.

Thus, products that will be exported do not need to go through the additional assessment stage as long as they meet the assessment criteria in the country. "For the MSME sector, the SVLK costs will be borne by the government," said Putu.

Putu said that his party would also fully support efforts to strengthen orientation to the domestic market because the national industry should become king in its own country.

"P3DN and TKDN policies, import substitution, capacity building programs, all of which we intensify as a tangible manifestation of the government's alignment, so that domestic industries can be sovereign, advanced, and competitive," he said.

"We also support promotional activities so that they can continue to be carried out and enlivened, both promotional in the domestic market and non-traditional export markets," he concluded.