Ministry of Industry: Local Shoe Industry Drives Indonesian Economy to Global Level

Illustration (Photo: Doc Antara)

JAKARTA - Secretary of the Directorate General of Small and Medium Industries and Miscellaneous of the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) Riefky Yuswandi said that the local footwear industry is able to drive the Indonesian economy to the global level.

"Until the second quarter of 2024, the performance of the national footwear industry was able to grow by 3.92 percent compared to last year in the same period," said Riefky as reported by ANTARA, Sunday, September 22.

In fact, continued Riefky, data from the World Footwear Yearbook 2023 recorded Indonesia as one of the top five footwear producing countries, namely producing 807 million pairs of footwear globally last year.

Of the 807 million pairs, around 445 million pairs were exported, which means that 55.4 percent of Indonesia's footwear production was sold to various countries, thus showing the productivity and capabilities of the workforce and domestic industry which are quite significant.

Riefky predicted that footwear exports in 2024 would exceed the realization of footwear exports in 2023 which reached 6.4 billion US dollars.

"We are confident that in 2024 there will still be an increase, because exports from January to June have reached 3.7 billion US dollars. We hope that the next semester will remain stable and grow even bigger," he also said.

Although the local footwear export market is very large, Riefky said the domestic market potential is not yet maximized because only 362 million pairs of total production have been absorbed by the domestic market.

According to him, this number is very small compared to the population of Indonesia which has reached more than 282 million people, considering that this absorption means that one Indonesian only buys one to two pairs.

In fact, nowadays each person has an average of two pairs of footwear, so the domestic market potential must be further explored, including through various innovations and executions.

"If the domestic market is maximized, national footwear consumption is certain to increase from the current 1.28 pairs per person per year," he said.

Riefky also emphasized that his party already has a machinery restructuring program, one of which is to encourage local creative industries such as this footwear.

Through this program, entrepreneurs have the opportunity for a reimbursement of 25 percent of the machine price for imported machines and 40 percent for local machines, so that it will become working capital.

In addition to the program, the Head of the Indonesian Footwear Industry Empowerment Center (BPIPI) Directorate General of Small and Medium Industries and Miscellaneous Syukur Idayati said that his party also has the Indonesia Footwear Creative Competition (IFCC) program to support the local industry.

BPIPI consistently organizes IFCC every year in collaboration with universities as a collaborative effort between the professions of designers, photographers, and videographers with the footwear industry.

This year, IFCC BPIPI is in synergy with Ciputra University and has been followed by 211 works in the On The Spot Competition (OTC) Surabaya, 124 works in OTC Yogyakarta, and 291 works through online registration from design, photography, and videography.