Chinese Import Mafia Makes Textile Industry Drop, Entrepreneurs Ask For Responsibility From The Directorate General Of Customs And Excise

Textiles (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Small and medium industry players (IKM) as well as textile and textile products (TPT) workers urged the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise to be responsible for flooding in illegal Chinese products due to the import mafia.

Chairman of the Working Convection Entrepreneurs Association (IPKB) Nandi Herdiaman said that the Director General of Customs and Excise Askolani and the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani was the party that must be responsible for the current condition of IKM and the national TPT industry. Customs and Excise so far is considered to allow the smuggling of illegal imported clothes through a number of modes.

"Askolani seemed to allow smuggling through wholesale import modes, the escape of HS and under-invoiting was carried out by the ranks around him," Nandi said in a written statement, Saturday, July 6.

In addition, Nandi also accused Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani of allowing Customs and Excise to be a hotbed for the import mafia conspiracy. IKMs and TPT workers also urged law enforcement officials to take action against those involved in illegal imports.

"Including, logistics companies partnering with Customs and Excise whose goods are always on the green line," he said.

On the other hand, the IKM and textile workers involved in the demonstration in Bandung on Friday, July 5, 2024, encouraged the government to revoke Permendag Number 8 of 2024 and re-implement Permendag 36/2023 which is considered more in favor of protecting domestic textile products.

Trade Minister Zulhas was asked to be more active in confiscating various illegal imported goods that were traded online and offline. In fact, they also urged President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to immediately intervene to resolve the problems of the national TPT industry and illegal imports.

Previously, the national textile and textile product (TPT) industry contracted in June 2024. Secretary of the Directorate General of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Textile Industries (IKFT) of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Kris Sasono Ngudi Wibowo said, one of the main causes in the TPT industry is the rise of imported textile products which are often in the form of illegal goods.

The flood of imported products is considered to be increasingly occurring since the Minister of Trade 8/2024 which relaxed import activities took effect. As a result, the textile industry became the only sub-sector to experience contraction based on the Industrial Trust Index (IKI) from the Ministry of Industry in June 2024.

"Of the 23 sub-sectors photographed through this industrial confidence index (IKI) survey, one of them is contraction. The contraction is in the Directorate General of IKFT, especially in KBLI 13, namely the textile industry," Kris said as quoted on Friday, June 28.

As a rescue effort, the Ministry of Industry has written to the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) to formulate a security policy for several commodities, including TPT, through Antidumping Import Duty (BMAD) and Security Import Duty (BMTP).

The plan for the implementation of these two instruments was also discussed in a limited cabinet meeting (ratas) with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) some time ago.

"We continue to have intense meetings with the Ministry of Finance and are still waiting for the results," he said.

Even so, there is no definite information on when the BMAD and BMPT will be implemented, including the amount of value. However, the Ministry of Industry hopes that the policy will take effect as soon as possible with the maximum amount.