The closures were triggered by the increasing illegal imports, APSYFI general chair Redma Gita Wirawatasta said in a statement.
Sixty textile firms closed in Indonesia between 2022 and 2024 and around 250,000 workers in the sector lost their jobs, according to the Association of Indonesian Filamentary Filament & Benang Producers (APSyFI).
The closures were triggered by the increasing illegal imports, APSyFI general chair Redma Gita Wirawatasta said.
Around two-fifths of goods entering Indonesia are not officially registered.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, textile imports from China stopped, and therefore, the domestic industry had recovered. However, when the lockdown ended and imports reopened, illegal goods flooded the domestic market, leaving many companies forced to stop operations, he said.
“The problem is uncontrolled imports. This reduces our industrial utilisation and has an impact on other sectors, such as electricity and logistics,” he said.
The textile industry has a share of 11.73 per cent in the country’s industrial electricity consumption and contributes 5.56 per cent to the national gross domestic product (GDP), he noted.
However, most of the domestic market is now filled with illegal imported goods that cause losses to the state, both in terms of taxes and import duties. Around 40 per cent of goods entering Indonesia are not officially registered, said Redma.
He urged the government to immediately address this issue to allow the domestic textile industry to recover.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
