The Indonesian Footwear Association's (Aprisindo) East Java chapter has expressed optimism that it will be able to reach this year's sale target, especially since both the central government's regulations and the provincial administration's bylaws have supported the development of the footwear industry.
Association chairman Sutan R.P. Siregar said Tuesday that following the government's policy limiting the importation of footwear, food and drink, garments, children's toys and electronic products since the beginning of this year, the opportunity for such industries to expand their business both domestically and abroad had widened.
"Thanks to the policy in support of local industries, we can increase our production volume,"said Sutan.
He expressed hope that the government would maintain these policies to help the industry grow.
Through the Trade and Industry Ministry's 2009 law on import limitation of the five products as well as programs to increase the use of local components, the government gives local producers room to expand their businesses, he said.
Aprisindo targets US$200 million in exports this fiscal year. The figure, said Sutan, was lower than in previous years as many footwear producers anticipated some continuing negative impacts from the global economic downturn, which is still hitting some key export markets.
The industry's main customers are Germany, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Canada and Japan.
Sutan said 140 shoe factories and 1,100 home-based footwear enterprises, which together employed 147,000 workers in the province, also focused on the domestic market.
He said national footwear consumption had reached up to 700 million pairs of shoes annually.
"East Java is capable of supplying 300 million pairs of shoes each year," said Sutan, adding that the association planned to increase its output to 360 millions next year.
The province, he went on, was able to supply 90 percent of the national demand for school shoes, 60 percent for sandals, 40 percent for fashion shoes and 20 percent for sports shoes.
The shoe producers in the country thus far had supplied 55 percent of total national demand. The rest was supplied by imported products. Aprisindo has set a target to reach 70 percent of total national demand for next year.
Footwear producers in the country, according to Sutan, are optimistic of gaining a stronger foothold in the domestic market as the government has issued regulations favoring local producers.
"I am sure that if the local market grows, the export market will also increase," said Sutan, adding that footwear producers needed to follow the market demand to create the right styles.
Currently, sports shoes account for up to 70 percent of the country's total export volume. The rest are non-sport or fashion shoes.
Aprisindo, according to Sutan, has targeted 50 percent of its exports to be sports shoes and 50 percent non-sport shoes, and aims to increase the proportion of locally-sourced content.
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