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New import rules hoped to save ailing textile industry
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) hopes a new Trade Ministry regulation will be a game-changer for businesses struggling with a declining performance, but experts warn a crackdown on imports is not a panacea.
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A worker completes the production of sarong cloth in a textile factory in the Majalaya industrial estate of Bandung regency, West Java, on Jan. 4, 2019. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
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omestic textile industry players battered by years of cheap imports are looking to a recently enacted Trade Ministry regulation as an attempt to save the ailing industry.
However, experts caution that the policy alone is insufficient and say it is imperative to make local manufacturers more competitive.
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) hailed Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 36/2023 on imports, which was amended through Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 3/2024, as a potential game-changer for businesses struggling with declining performance.
Speaking in a media briefing at API headquarters in Jakarta on Monday, API chairman Jemmy Kartiwa expressed optimism that the regulatory changes could boost domestic utilization of textile products and enable the industry to compete effectively with legal imports, “potentially restoring pre-crisis productivity levels.”
API deputy chair Anne Patricia Sutanto, who also holds the co-chair position for trade at the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), characterized the new rules as a “policy measure” reflecting the government's commitment to business and job security within the textile industry.
“Business certainty is paramount, and these regulations represent a positive step in that direction,” Anne emphasized.
Read also: Govt to revise carry-on import restrictions amid online protests
