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ndonesia’s textile exports have slowed in the first quarter of this year, partly due to lower demand from one of its key buyers, the European Union (EU), despite positive yearly growth, an industry association says.

Textile exports during the period ending March 31 were estimated to grow by 5 percent to US$3.5 billion from the same period last year, in contrast to the double digit growth recorded in the first quarter of last year, and this was partly attributed to the slowing demand from European countries, Indonesian Textile Association chairman Ade Sudrajat said on Thursday in Jakarta.

“We’ve still recorded a positive growth rate because of [purchase] orders from the US and Japan,” he told reporters during a press conference on the 10th Indonesia International Textile and Garment Machinery and Accessories Exhibition.

With the positive growth rate, the local industry performed better than other producing countries like Turkey or North African countries that relied heavily on exports to European nations, Ade said.

The US and the EU represent more than 40 percent and 10 percent shares respectively of the nation’s annual textile exports, while Japan accounts for around a 5 percent share, according to the association’s trade statistics.

Earlier, the association has predicted that overall textile export earnings will rise by only 5 percent to $13.97 billion this year in contrast to an 18.2 percent growth in 2011 from 2010.

The exports were anticipated to grow by around 5 percent in the second quarter of this year, Ade said.

The textile industry is one of the country’s backbone manufacturing industries and the Industry Ministry has targeted that along with the footwear industry, it is to expand by between 6.1 percent and 7.5 percent this year.

Like the footwear industry, the textile industry is considered a labor-intensive sector, which this year was estimated to have created 15.5 million jobs for Indonesians, 40,000 of which were new jobs generated from new investment in the sector, partly due to the relocation of plants from Vietnam and China in the past years, following steep increases in labor costs there.

Ade said that imports would grow by 2 percent to 3 percent to around $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year from the same period last year.

However, imports would likely surge in the second quarter as local producers bought textiles overseas for re-exports.

Indonesia’s annual textile imports will reach around $9.5 billion this year, according to Ade. Last year, the country imported around $9 billion in textile and textile products with around 70 percent from China, followed by other countries, including South Korea and Thailand.

“The third quarter is the peak season for orders [of textile products] and this will make an import surge in the second quarter in anticipation of that,” he said.

Sales of textile and textile products made by domestic producers in Southeast Asia’s largest economy will reach around $7.6 billion, according to the association.

Indonesians consume around 6 kilograms per capita, lower than other ASEAN countries such as Singapore (16 kilograms) and Malaysia (14 kilograms), leaving room for further growth in the future, Ade said.