The Ministry Of Industry Reveals The Cause Of Textile Industry Still Sluggish Ahead Of The 2024 General Election

Head of the Standardization and Industrial Services Policy Agency (BSKJI) of the Ministry of Industry Andi Rizaldi. (Theresia Agatha/VOI)

The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) reported that the national manufacturing sector was in the expansion phase for 28 consecutive months.

This refers to the manufacturing purchasing index manager (PMI) released by S&P Global and confirmed Industrial Trust Index (IKI) in January 2024.

Even so, the Ministry of Industry admits that there are 6 domestic manufacturing sub-sectors that are still experiencing contractions, aka a decline in performance, one of which is the textile industry (KBLI 13).

Related to this, the Head of the Standardization and Industrial Services Policy Agency (BSKJI) of the Ministry of Industry Andi Rizaldi revealed that there was one factor that caused the performance of the textile industry to decline, namely the discovery of cases of used clothing.

"The only problem now is that there are cases of used clothes emerging again. So, if you are constantly disturbed by used clothes, like it or not (the performance of the textile industry) will also be disrupted," Andi told VOI when met at the inauguration of the Natural Medicine Production Facility at the Center for Standardization and Services. Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Packaging Industry (BBSPJIKFK) in Jakarta, Tuesday, February 6.

Andi assessed that the textile industry does have considerable potential now, especially ahead of the 2024 general election (Pemilu).

However, he also did not deny that the problem of used clothing is still one of the factors that interfere with the performance of the textile industry.

"According to (industrial players) the potential is still quite large, only if it is continuously disturbed by used clothes, like it or not, it will also be disrupted," he said.

When asked further about the improvement in the performance of the textile industry in the industrial confidence index (IKI) next February, Andi could not provide further information.

"I don't know yet, yes," he added.

Previously reported, the Ministry of Industry noted that the textile industry sub-sector is still at the current contraction level.

Director of Industry, Textiles, Skin and Footwear of the Ministry of Industry, Adie Rochmanto Pandiangan, said that many political elites have now used electronic media as a place to campaign.

"We previously hoped that the existing democratic party would raise or increase demand and production. However, we are trying to check, it turns out that the role of electronic media in the campaign is quite influential," said Adie at the Ministry of Industry's office, Jakarta, Wednesday, January 31.

Adie assessed that this had caused a decline in the demand for textile sub-sector items.

"So, the attributes, banners and t-shirts that were usually requested in previous years did not happen much," he said.