Asian joint footwear secretariat proposed

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Light Industries Doddy Soepardi called on Asian footwear associations yesterday to establish a joint secretariat to anticipate competition in the coming free trade era.

Doddy said that instead of holding an annual conference, Asian footwear associations should establish a joint secretariat to exchange information on market trends more effectively.

He was speaking at the opening of the 16th International Footwear Conference at the Hotel Intercontinental Jimbaran, Bali.

The one-day meeting drew 60 participants from nine countries: China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Doddy also urged Asian footwear associations to hold regular big joint exhibitions like those in Europe and the United States.

Doddy said Indonesia still had a lot of opportunities to export shoes since it only supplied 5.52 percent of the market so far.

Industry and Trade Ministry data shows that Indonesia exported US$2.1 billion worth of shoes in 1996 with a annual growth of 13.33 percent.

Seventy-three percent of the exported shoes were sport shoes, including Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Fila shoes.

Hong Kong delegation chief Patrick K.K. Tang said during the conference that the main problem with the Indonesian shoe industry was that it imported all its raw materials.

The Indonesian shoe industry was reluctant to buy domestic- made leather and shoe accessories because they were more expensive than the imported ones, he said.

Buyers were charged a 10 percent value added tax when they bought local products, he said.

"The regulation on value-added tax has also discouraged foreign investors from investing in footwear raw material and accessories in Indonesia," he said. (jsk)