Textile Industry Continues To Be Overshadowed By Mass Layoffs, Pressured By Cheap Import Products

Illustration: Photo: Doc. ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Textile Institute of Technology's Alumni Association of Textile High Schools of Textile Technology (IKA Textile) voiced its concerns regarding the trend of termination of employment (PHK) and the closure of factories in the national textile and textile product (TPT) industry.

Chairman of IKA Tekstil Riady Madyadinata said that the layoffs this time did not only happen to workers at the operator level, but also experts to middle management.

"Our employees who are professionals are also affected. We are currently analyzing the root of the factory closure problem through input from regional coordinators in DKI, Banten, West Java, Central Java to East Java," said Riady in an official statement received by VOI, Friday, September 19.

According to Riady, the main problem lies in the difficulty of selling domestic products due to the flood of imported goods, both legal and illegal. Local product prices are considered difficult to compete because production costs in Indonesia are around 35-40 percent higher than imported goods.

IKA Textile also noted a number of other factors that suppress industrial competitiveness, such as energy costs, human resources, logistics to work culture within the company. Ironically, many alumni actually have careers abroad because the TPT industry in other countries is developing.

Riady added that the entry of foreign investment, especially from China, has not been able to withstand the rate of layoffs and the closure of domestic factories.

On the other hand, Chairman of the Working Convection Entrepreneurs Association (IPKB) Nandi Herdiman asked the Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) to be transparent in announcing the company receiving the import quota and its amount.

"If it is not transparent, the same incident as in the yarn and cloth sector will be repeated. BPS data shows that the import of yarn and cloth has continued to rise in the last five years, while domestic producers have actually gone out of business," he said.

Even so, Nandi welcomed the issuance of Permendag Number 17 of 2025 which requires general importers to be verified to obtain an import quota.

Dia menilai, aturan tersebut bisa menjadi peluang bagi industri kecil, terutama konveksi pakaian jadi.

Nandi pun mengusulkan agar kuota impor pakaian jadi dan produk tekstil lainnya (HS 61, 62 dan 63) dibatasi maksimal 50.000 ton per tahun.

"Produksi dalam negeri sudah mencapai 2,8 juta ton per tahun, dengan kapasitas ekspor sekitar 500.000 ton dan konsumsi domestik 2 juta ton. Artinya, kapasitas nasional sebetulnya sanggup memenuhi kebutuhan dalam negeri," imbuhnya.

He considered that the regulation could be an opportunity for small industries, especially the finished clothing convection.

Nandi also suggested that the import quota for finished clothes and other textile products (HS 61, 62 and 63) be limited to a maximum of 50,000 tons per year.

"Domestic production has reached 2.8 million tons per year, with an export capacity of around 500,000 tons and domestic consumption of 2 million tons. This means that the national capacity is actually able to meet domestic needs," he added.