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Dutch agency helps promote RI’s home decor exports
Indonesian home decor producers are to receive training from a Dutch government agency to help them export their products to the Dutch market and other countries in Europe
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span>Indonesian home decor producers are to receive training from a Dutch government agency to help them export their products to the Dutch market and other countries in Europe.
Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in Jakarta on Tuesday, the Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) of the Netherlands’ Foreign Affairs Ministry is to provide a training program worth 2.5 million euro (US$2.7 million) for Indonesia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in home décor production for five years, beginning this year.
In addition, the CBI would also arrange business meetings between Indonesia’s home décor producers and potential buyers in the Netherlands to help increase their exports to the country, the Trade Ministry’s director general for foreign trade, Dody Edward, told reporters following the signing of the agreement.
He said the arrangement would not only help Indonesian home décor producers to improve the quality of their products but also to expand their markets in the Netherlands.
“I believe that if we can enter the Netherlands, we can also expand our markets to other European countries,” he said.
Dody said that with this training program, Indonesia’s home decor exports are expected to be worth up to 32.5 million euro ($36.1 million) by 2024. The Netherlands was Indonesia’s biggest market for home decor products in Europe last year with a 22.34 percent market share. During the year, total home decor exports were worth
$109 million.
Meanwhile, CBI managing director Hans Obdeijn said that the wood and natural-fiber-based products such as frames and baskets were the most popular home decor items.
“We are only helping them to understand how the European market works since Indonesia has good materials and skilled artisans already," he said.
He went on to say that CBI would help producers to obtain environmental sustainability and ethical working certificates, among others.
“I believe that if we can enter the Netherlands, we can also expand our markets to other European countries.”
However, Obdeijn said he hoped the participants would become independent exporters once the program ends.
CBI local sector expert Liena Mahalli said that as of September, 93 SMEs throughout the nation had registered for the program but only about 35 of them would be chosen through an auditing process.
SMEs to be selected must have five to 500 employees and operate a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. “We want to step up our quality so we can create premium home decorations,” she told the press.
Liena added that Indonesian products were competing in the middle-lower markets, but through the program, she hoped that they could attract premium buyers in the middle-upper markets.
She said that CBI had worked with 11 Indonesian home decor SMEs from 2013 to 2017 and was able to increase their exports by $8 million during the time.
The Netherlands was Indonesia's second-largest economic partner in Europe, with total trade between the two countries recorded at $5.13 billion last year, according to Trade Ministry data. In 2018, exports to the Netherlands fell by about 4 percent to $3.89 billion from $4.03 billion 2017, while during the period between January and August exports to the country fell by 18 percent year-on-year to $2.16 billion.
The Netherlands was also among the top European investors, with realized investments of $943.1 million last year, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data showed.
