T

he government says it will relocate rattan makers working on Java to other rattan-producing islands following its recent export ban.

Industry Minister MS Hidayat said on Monday in Jakarta that the government would help rattan-makers from East and West Java move to rattan-rich areas in Kalimantan and Sulawesi to achieve a better distribution of rattan makers.

“We’ve discussed and prepared a relocation-and-transmigration plan by involving the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry with a pre-arranged budget,” Hidayat told reporters after meeting local officials.

The proposed rattan industrial centers include sites in Katingan regency in Central Kalimantan, Palu municipality in Central Sulawesi, Barito Timur regency in Central Kalimantan and Pidie regency in Aceh, according to the ministry.

Relocating rattan-processing centers is part of a plan prepared by the Industry Ministry to revive the nation’s long-ailing rattan industry, which has for years suffered from shortages of material.

Most of Indonesia’s rattan output — including raw rattan and semi-finished rattan — is exported to China and Vietnam, which are in a tight market with Indonesia to develop finished products.

The ministry’s multi-year plan was aimed at boosting the value added to local rattan and hoped to make Indonesia, home to 85 percent of the world’s raw rattan, a champion in the industry, according to Hidayat.

Separately, Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola said that the transmigration of rattan crafters would help the industry in the region develop.

Rattan products made in Central Sulawesi, especially furniture, were still poorly designed and were of low quality, leaving local exporters unable to compete outside Indonesia, Longki said.

“Our region produces around 120,000 tons of rattan every year and 70 percent of that is exported, mostly to China and Taiwan,” he said.

Longki said that the provincial government had prepared 100 hectares of a 1,500-hectare industrial estate in Palu to develop an integrated rattan processing industry center that could absorb the rattan produced by other regencies, such as Donggala and Parigimoto.

Hidayat said the ministry would cooperate with local and overseas rattan furniture designers to improve local designs.

Speaking on the sidelines of the same meeting, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said that he was upbeat about the potential for the government’s integrated effort to boost the local rattan industry over the next few years.

“Don’t just think about the next two to six months, but about one, two, or three years. I’m sure we can increase the export value of our rattan products to five- or even ten-fold,” he said.

According to the Indonesian Rattan Furniture and Craft Association (AMKRI), Indonesia sold US$300 million worth of finished rattan products in 2008, which plunged to $167 million in 2009 and to $138 million by the end of 2010.

During the first semester of last year, the country’s rattan exports were valued at $57 million.