Jakarta (VNA) – Tens of thousands of textile and textile product (TPT) workers in Indonesia have been laid off in the first half of this year, President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPN) Ristadi said on June 23, describing the sector’s situation as an emergency.
Ristadi said the condition of the TPT industry sector is critical, especially for locally oriented factories, as the domestic market is increasingly flooded with imported goods. Clothing, textiles, and footwear from abroad continue to inundate Indonesia’s domestic market.
According to KSPN, since the beginning of 2024, 13,800 workers in Indonesia's textile industry have been laid off due to plummeting orders, with some companies even experiencing a complete halt in operations. Currently, only export-oriented textile firms are managing to survive.
The actual number of laid off worker is almost 50,000 workers. However, many companies do not want their names to be exposed to maintain trust from banks and buyers.
Ristadi noted that most of the layoffs occurred in West Java and Central Java, which are home to the TPT production hubs.
He said that the wave of closures is primarily triggered by Trade Minister Regulation (Permendag) No. 8 of 2024, which relaxes import restrictions on ready-made garments, flooding the domestic market with imported clothes. As a result, domestic textile production has been facing many difficulties./.
