Textile Exports Expected To Stay Strong

Indonesia's garment and textile exports are expected to remain steady even in the event of war in Iraq, an executive said.

Because of the US economic slowdown, the Indonesian textile and garment manufacturers had diverted their exports to Europe and Africa, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) Benny Soetrisno said on the sidelines of a garment and textile exhibition "Asia Global Sourcing" at Bali recently.

In addition, Indonesia's textile and garment exports to the Middle East last year accounted for three to four per cent of the total value which reached US$6.8 billion, he said.

Indonesia exported small quantities of textiles and garments to the Middle East while at the same time its textile and garment exports to the United States had tended to decline since the past few months.

"So if the US goes through with its plan to attack Iraq, it will not have significant impact on the market for Indonesian textile and garment exports," he said.

Asked to comment on a glut of cheap Chinese garments and textiles into the domestic market, he said it once made local textile and garment manufacturers upset.

He said the Chinese government provided a wide range of incentives to its textile and garment companies, making their products cheap.

"However, the market segment of Chinese products is mostly the middle and lower class buyers, so that we still can sell our products to the upper class buyers," he said.

China's textile and garment exports last year contributed US$55 billion to its economy.

He expressed hope the Indonesian government would provide local textile and garment manufacturers with a number of privileges to enable them to compete with their foreign rivals on the global market.

The privileges include tax relief, low electricity tariffs and fuel oil prices as well as low customs fees, he said.

"We have proposed 31 types of stimuli to the government to make Indonesian garments and textiles competitive on the global market," he said.