JAKARTA: The Indonesian textile industry urged its government to regulate imports of cheap textile products into the country, which are flooding the market and in the process, disrupting the domestic industry. The industry particularly pointed fingers towards China for the flood of textile imports, and requested the government to set an import reference price.
Speaking to a leading Indonesian daily, Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat added that along with imports of cheap textiles from China, smuggling of used clothing also should be checked.
A senior official in the Industry Ministry said that production capacity in the upstream textile sector was lying idle, so the government has plans to regulate and control textile imports.
An Indonesian Industry Ministry data reveals that the domestic textile industry suffered losses of around $2.2 billion per annum due to illegal smuggling of textiles.
