Autralian firm to plug Indonesia's handicraft exports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Export Supporting Board has signed
\nan agreement with Australian joint venture PT Out of Asia to
\nboost the country's handicraft exports.<\/p>\n
The board's executive director, Faridz Soewardi, said on
\nTuesday that under the agreement, his agency would finance the
\nproduction of handicraft by small firms.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta-based PT Out of Asia would purchase the
\nhandicrafts, help producers to obtain orders from foreign buyers
\nand design the products to meet foreign buyers' tastes.<\/p>\n
\"We and PT Out of Asia will jointly help handicraft producers
\nto improve the quality of their products and their financial
\nmanagement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Faridz said his agency would provide working capital loans of
\nRp 500 million (US$62,500) to at least 500 handicraftmakers.<\/p>\n
PT Out of Asia president Warwick Purser said his company was
\ncurrently working with 150 handicraft producing groups in
\nYogyakarta, West, Central and East Java and West Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia has great potential to become the world's biggest
\nexporter of handicraft products. But first of all, the quality
\nand the design should be improved to meet buyers' tastes,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said handicrafts made from bamboo and terracotta were
\nincreasingly popular on the international market.<\/p>\n
\"But Indonesia is facing tight competition from China and
\nother Asian countries.\"<\/p>\n
He said his company sold between 300,000 to 400,000 units of
\nhandicraft products per month. The biggest markets were European
\ncountries, the United States, Japan and Australia. (gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/autralian-firm-to-plug-indonesias-handicraft-exports-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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