A worker completes production of sarong cloth in a textile factory in Majalaya industrial estate in Bandung regency, West Java. (Photo: Antara) Working under the Ministry of Trade, the Indonesian Trade Safeguard Committee (KPPI) is leading the probe after receiving a formal request from the Indonesian Textile Association (API) in September this year.
The decreasing number of workers in the domestic textile industry, in addition to the shrinking market share of domestic manufacturers, is one of the indicators that the Ministry of Trade considers when initiating the investigation.
In a press release on October 31, acting KPPI Chairman Nugraheni Prasetya Hastuti said the committee has seen preliminary signs of serious losses or threats of serious losses from the surge in textile imports.
The products under investigation include cotton woven fabric, man-made filament yarn, cotton sewing thread, cotton yarn, and fabric woven from man-made filament yarn.
The ministry said that imports of these products rose to 29,908 tonnes over the past four years from just 14,843 tonnes in 2019.
This investigation is part of the safeguard measures authorised by the World Trade Organisation (WHO) and typically conducted by its member states.
Indonesia's textile and garment industry is facing difficulties in maintaining operations as companies record plummeting export revenue due to falling demand from foreign markets amid the global economic downturn./.
VNA
