Textile, garment firms reduce work hours<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
Textile and garment companies operating in Bandung and
\nMajalaya, West Java, have cut their employees' work hours over
\nthe past two weeks due to a drop in orders from the United States
\nand European countries, an executive said.<\/p>\n
\"Many companies have cut workdays to five days a week from six
\nand shifts to one shift from two and even three shifts a day,\"
\nsaid Madi Rukasah, processing manager of PT Wistex, a fabric
\ndyeing and printing company in Majalaya.<\/p>\n
Wistex serves 34 small and medium textile and garment
\ncompanies, mostly in Majalaya.<\/p>\n
Madi said orders for dyeing and printing from the 34 companies
\nhad dwindled from 600,000 meters per month to 500,000 meters per
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Consequently, production has dropped by between 10 percent and
\n15 percent.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Madi said his company would not lay off workers
\nbut hoped that orders would pick up in the future.<\/p>\n
Satya Natapura, another textile businessman in Majalaya,
\nconcurred and said that past experience showed that orders did
\ncome during a crisis.<\/p>\n
\"Just like in 1998, we were flooded with orders because many
\nbig textile and garment companies went bankrupt. We never know
\nGod's plans,\" Satya said.<\/p>\n
Satya said that some new orders had come in from buyers in
\nTaiwan and Hong Kong, although their value was small.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, West Java's Indonesian Textile Association (API)
\nchairman Adi Yunus said orders had dropped but were still coming
\nin, especially from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"Buyers in these countries are mostly brokers. They resell the
\nproducts to the United States or European countries.
\nConsequently, we get less foreign exchange. But that's OK, at
\nleast we can keep our businesses operating,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that buyers from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong paid
\nless than buyers from Europe or America, because they supplied
\nlocal companies with the fabric.<\/p>\n
\"For instance, when we get orders from the U.S., we can get
\n$40 for a dozen garments. But for buyers from Taiwan, we only get
\n$25 because they supply us with the fabric,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Adi noted that buyers from Europe and the U.S. were still
\ninterested in buying garments from Indonesia, but due to security
\nconcerns they had shifted their purchases to other countries, or
\nto brokers in neighboring countries.<\/p>\n
\"The real impacts from the anti-American demonstrations is the
\ndecrease in our foreign exchange income from exports,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Once anti-American sentiment dyes down, it is expected that
\nEuropean and U.S. buyers will return, Adi said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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