The textile industry of Indonesia could witness modest growth in 2013 due to several domestic challenges faced by the textile manufacturers including increasing cost of electricity and minimum wage of workers, coupled with the ongoing economic crisis in the developed countries, such as the EU and the US.
Speaking to fibre2fashion, secretary general of Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia (API or Indonesian Textile Association), Mr. Asep Setiaharja said, “We still predict that textile industry in Indonesia is in growing phase. However, since the crisis in developed countries, such as the US and the EU, has not yet fully recovered, our textile export activities will only rise not more than 5 percent compared to last year.
According to him, the increasing wage of workers and electricity cost affect the manufacturing cost of textile products. “Some Asean countries are newly industrialized with garment industry as their starting point and as Indonesia has entire textile industry value chain, which not only produces garments but also textiles, we hope we will be able to export our textiles to garment manufacturing countries,” he opines.
When asked about the trade relation with India, he informs, “In textile business, Indonesia and India are more in competition and hence we have not benefited much from the Asean-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that came into force from January 1, 2010.”
“Our garment brands are not well-recognized in India and it shall be our endeavour to promote our own brands for better recognition in the Indian market,” he adds.
Source:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=122424
