Minister Of Industry Agus Gumiwang Denies Sunset Textile Industry

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita revealed that the national textile industry has been expansionary or positive, thus dismissing the notion that the textile industry is a sunset industry.

The Minister of Industry said that the Ministry of Industry has an Industrial Trust index (IKI) so that it can find out the performance of each of its trending sub-sector industries.

"In our IKI survey, we first found in history that in April and this was leaked by IKI in May, the performance of the textile industry has been positive. The performance of the textile industry is already expansionary, already above 50 points," said Agus Gumiwang in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, May 30.

The main key to the national textile industry being positive is the management of the balance or technocratic language "fair trade".

"When I entered this office five years ago, it was a shame that the textile sub-sector was considered a sunset sub-sector. This is the wrong paradigm, it's a paradigm that wants clothes to be imported. The wrong paradigm. Frankly, we are struggling in this office to secure that textiles are not the sunset industry," said the Minister of Industry.

Agus Gumiwang said that the Ministry of Industry is trying to protect the domestic textile industry.

"We know how the textile industry started from upstream to downstream, we are trying to control it to protect the domestic industry. Alhamdulillah IKI in April has shown that the textile industry has started to expand, and IKI in May which we will release also shows that textiles are already expansive. What is the key? Balance management. Goods are our concern, imports of goods are our concern," he said.

The Minister of Industry also said that the national textile industry can import raw goods as long as these raw goods are not available domestically, the industry is also required to be given the opportunity.