Indonesian textile body wants clamp down on illegal imports

By presenting statistical data, an Indonesian textiles association made up of MMF producers pointed out the large extent of illegal textiles and garments being imported into Indonesia.

The Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers (APSyFI), Redma Wirawasta said such illegal imports were killing the domestic industry.

He pointed out the large gap in import data between the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and data of the International Trade Center (ITC), whose data came from the Customs Office of China.



“The data from ITC reveals that China’s textile and clothing exports in 2022 to Indonesia totaled US $6.50 billion, while BPS data informs that imports from China reached $3.55 billion,” Wirawasta said.

“The gap between the two data is around $2.95 billion and this gap is the amount of textiles that have been imported illegally,” he added.



He further informed that because of these illegal imports, the government is losing out on income from customs duty, due to which they can be sold cheaply in the market, but impacts the domestic industry, which pays all taxes.

According to Wirawasta, the condition of the textile and garment industry is very bad, as several companies have closed down, while many are running on lower capacities, all of which have led to job losses.

He urged the government to implement measures to immediately stop the import of such illegal textiles and apparel and also stop the distribution of these products into the market in the interest of local industry.