business

Menperin Requests The Minister Of Finance To Be Consistent In His Statements And Policies Regarding The Textile Industry

In response to the statement made by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati during a working meeting with the Regional Representative Council (DPD) of Indonesia regarding the causes of the widespread layoffs in the textile industry, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita agrees with the Finance Minister's statement that dumping is one of the causes of the decline of the domestic Textile and Textile Products (TPT) industry.

The Minister of Industry appreciates the Finance Ministry's policy in supporting the national TPT industry. Furthermore, it is hoped that the Finance Minister will be consistent in both statements and policies to support and protect the domestic industry. However, the Minister of Industry hopes that the Finance Minister will be consistent in both statements and policies to support and protect the domestic industry.

In the past five years, the Ministry of Industry has made efforts to rescue the national TPT industry from global competition and domestic market competitiveness. In terms of global competition, the Ministry of Industry continues to expand the market while maintaining the quality of the production output.

As it is known, finished products made in Indonesia such as ready-to-wear clothing and footwear have been recognized and have gained their own place in export destinations, including the United States, Japan, and several countries in the European Union.

"It cannot be denied that there is currently a decline in exports caused by global geopolitical issues, which has resulted in a decrease in purchasing power from consumers in export destinations, as well as difficulties in accessing export markets due to import restrictions through tariff and non-tariff barriers," said Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita in his statement on Thursday (20/6).

The national textile and textile product (TPT) industry must be maintained amidst declining exports, so the Ministry of Industry continues to strive to increase TPT product absorption in the domestic market. However, the competitiveness of the national TPT industry in the domestic market is disrupted by the importation of similar products, especially downstream TPT products, in large quantities, both legally and illegally.

Furthermore, there are TPT production results in the world that are not absorbed by export destination countries that currently impose trade restrictions. As a result, oversupply occurs, leading to producer countries engaging in dumping and attempting to shift markets to countries that do not have domestic market protection, including Indonesia," explained the Minister of Industry.

This practice shows that every producing country seeks to protect its domestic industry by implementing dumping policies, which is a common practice. "Therefore, we should quickly anticipate this by implementing trade remedies policies such as anti-dumping and safeguard policies, as well as other non-tariff policies," the Minister of Industry further explained.

Meanwhile, some countries have implemented trade restriction policies, such as India, which has imposed a Quality Control Order (QCO) for viscose staple fiber (VSF) and footwear products.

To secure the domestic market from the influx of imported goods, the Ministry of Industry has made various efforts within its authority, including improving the quality of production through Indonesian National Standards (SNI) and promoting the implementation of the Domestic Product Utilization Enhancement Program (P3DN).Additionally, the Ministry of Industry is also pushing for the implementation of safeguards for domestic industries experiencing serious losses or threats due to a surge in imported products in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, such as trade remedies like Safeguard Import Duty (BMTP) and Anti-Dumping Import Duty (BMAD).