SNI To Antidumping Are Considered Proven To Trigger The Indonesian Ceramic Industry

Keramic Industry (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Keramic Association (Asaki) said a number of government policies ranging from anti-dumping, market protection (safeguard), to the application of the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) are obligatory to provide a major boost to the progress of the sector.

Chairman of Asaki Edy Suyanto said that the three policies in favor of the domestic industry had a very positive (multiplier effect) impact on industry players.

"This year there is an additional new production capacity of up to 25 million square meters and has succeeded in absorbing around 1,500 new workers," said Edy quoting Antara.

The further effect of increasing production capacity is the ability of the national industry to completely replace imported ceramics, which previously reached 80 million square meters per year.

According to Edy, another good news is that importers are now synergizing with local producers through the Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) scheme. With this concept, importers no longer have to bring in products from abroad, but work with domestic manufacturers to produce ceramics with their own brands.

"Almost 90 percent of large bona fide importers have signed OEM contracts with the national ceramic industry, and they claim to be more satisfied than importing themselves," said Edy.

The national ceramic industry offers a number of advantages that make the OEM concept more attractive. Some of them are supply certainty and delivery timeliness, so there are no delays due to the international logistics process.

Furthermore, prices are more stable because they are not influenced by fluctuations in foreign exchange exchange rates, as well as full-sale services and quality guarantees that are impossible to obtain if they import directly.

This advantage makes the national ceramic industry ecosystem more competitive, while strengthening import substitution in the development and property support sector.

"Asaki considers that this success shows the effectiveness of synergy between the government, industry players, and market players," he said.

Edy hopes that policies that support domestic industries can be maintained so that positive growth can continue in the following years.

With the increasing demand for national ceramics, plus the increasingly strong capabilities of domestic producers, the ceramic sector is projected to be one of the driving motors of the national manufacturing industry by 2026.