Report To Mrs. Sri Mulyani! Used Clothing Imports Enter Through 'Illegal Route' In East Sumatra

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA – The Ministry of Finance through the Directorate General of Customs and Excise is known to continue to take action against the import of illegal used clothing. It was stated that throughout 2022 Sri Mulyani's staff had managed to handle 234 cases with a value equivalent to IDR 24.2 billion.

"Customs took action on 6,177 bales of illegally imported used clothing last year," said Director of Communication and Guidance for Customs Service Users Nirwala Dwi Heryanto, quoted Friday, March 17.

According to Nirwala, this firm action was taken because the value and volume of imports of used clothing have continued to increase in the last two years. He explained, in 2020 169 actions were carried out with a value of IDR 10.3 billion.

"This figure rose to IDR 17.4 billion from the 165 actions we took," he said.

Nirwala explained that his party found that the modus operandi used by the perpetrators was by sea and entering at unofficial ports, alias "rat lane".

“Most of them are on the east coast of Sumatra. Then there are also those who enter from Batam and the Riau Islands. They disguise these used clothes by hiding them in other items," he said.

Citing data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), it is known that imports of the commodity coded HS 6309 increased in the first two months of 2023, namely US$1,965 in January to US$5,501 in February.

This condition is believed to continue to increase in line with the surge in demand during Ramadan. At least the same pattern was recorded in April 2022 when imports of HS 6309 approached the US$200,000 mark with a volume of around 13.3 tonnes.

In fact, used clothing itself is an item that is prohibited from being imported based on Minister of Trade Regulation Number 18 of 2021.

The policy was then updated with the Minister of Trade Regulation Number 40 of 2022 concerning Amendments to the Minister of Trade Regulation Number 18 of 2021 concerning Export Prohibited Goods and Import Prohibited Goods.