President urges people to buy more local goods<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto called on people again
\nyesterday to buy local products, saying there was no reason to
\nprefer foreign products because local ones were just as good and
\ncheaper.<\/p>\n
\"The use of local goods should be made a national drive. Love
\nfor our own products is part of nationalism,\" Soeharto said when
\nopening PT Polysindo Eka Perkasa's purified terephthalic acid
\n(PTA) plant in Karawang, West Java.<\/p>\n
He said increased use of domestic products would enable local
\nindustries to grow and strengthen Indonesia's economic
\nfoundation.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said that at a recent cabinet meeting he told the
\ngovernment to give top priority to buying and using local
\nproducts.<\/p>\n
\"Our local products are as good and are not more expensive
\nthan foreign ones. There is no reason for us to prefer imported
\ngoods,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesian industries were getting better.<\/p>\n
\"Now we are able to make machines, including textile
\nmachines,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia would continue to pursue industrialization by
\nimproving human resource quality, optimizing the use of natural
\nresources and raising technological capabilities, he said.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that in 20 years our industry will be strong and well
\ndeveloped enough to enable us to compete in both domestic and
\nforeign markets,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He warned that Indonesia would just be a market for foreign
\ngoods if it failed to strengthen its economy.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is committed to free market under the ASEAN Free
\nTrade Area in 2003 and under the Asia Pacific Economic
\nCooperation in 2020.<\/p>\n
PTA plant<\/p>\n
The facilities that were opened yesterday also included
\nPolysindo's polymer facilities and its Citarum industrial estate.
\nPolysindo is Texmaco Group's flagship company. Texmaco is
\nIndonesia's biggest polyester maker.<\/p>\n
Texmaco's president, Marimutu Sinivasan, said the PTA plant
\nwould make 360,000 tons of PTA a year -- a third of Indonesia's
\npolyester output.<\/p>\n
He said the PTA output would feed the company's polymer plant,
\nwhich had been operational since last September with a capacity
\nof 330,400 tons a year.<\/p>\n
The polymer plant in turn feeds the company's polyester staple
\nfiber factory, which was expanded last September to an annual
\ncapacity of 180,000 tons.<\/p>\n
Texmaco Jaya, another publicly-listed Texmaco unit, makes
\nfashion fabric and garments.<\/p>\n
Sinivasan said his company used to buy PTA from Bakrie's
\nplant, which made about 500,000 tons a year.<\/p>\n
The PTA and polymer facilities are the centerpiece of a
\nUS$645-million expansion program.<\/p>\n
The equipment and machinery for the plants were fabricated by
\nTexmaco Perkasa engineering.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia imports roughly $12 billion in capital goods and
\n$12 billion in raw materials a year. Even as the country is
\ntrying to establish an industrial infrastructure and build up
\nexport industries like textiles and pulp, we're spending foreign
\nexchange to import costly capital goods and equipment needed to
\nbuild up these industries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said one goal in vertically integrating the polyester
\nbusiness and building an engineering company in Indonesia was to
\nbreak that cycle and give the country the building blocks of
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
Sinivasan said a sharp rise in international cotton prices had
\nprompted local textile makers to substitute polyester staple
\nfibers for cotton.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's makes more than a million tons of PTA a year but
\nthis meets only 56 percent of domestic demand. The shortfall is
\nimported.<\/p>\n
Sinivasan said his company built the Citarum industrial estate
\nto enhance business partnerships between small and big
\nbusinesses. (bnt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/president-urges-people-to-buy-more-local-goods-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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