Batik cooperatives body to expand textile capacities

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Batik Cooperatives Association will expand the production capacities of its companies by increasing the number of its spinning units from 210,000 to 270,000, with an investment of Rp 60 billion (US$26.8 million).

Antara reported on Saturday that the association's chairman, Noorbasha Djunaid, said the new spinning units would be installed at two of its seven textile companies -- PT Medarindoteks in Yogyakarta and PT Primatexco in Pekalongan, Central Java -- as well as its joint venture company, PT Daiwa Textile Indonesia, which the association has established together with Daiwabo and Nichimen of Japan.

He said that all the products from the joint venture would be exported to Japan.

Noorbasha said his association would provide 20 percent of the total investment, while its Japanese partners would provide the rest.

The association, which a few months ago managed the debt- ridden Kanindotex Group of textile companies, recorded total sales of Rp 265.7 billion last year, up by 42.4 percent from Rp 186.6 billion in 1993. This year, the company projects to reach total sales of Rp 338.9 billion.

Prior to the association's plans to expand its production capacity, the Kanindotex Group, which was taken over by a consortium led by Bambang Trihatmodjo, announced that the group intended to expand its capacity by adding 150,000 spinning units to its current total of 420,000 units, with an investment of Rp 172 billion.

According to the Indonesian Textile Association, textile companies in Indonesia operated a total of 7.2 million spinning units last year, as compared to merely 5.8 million in 1992.

During the first six months of this year, the Investment Coordinating Board approved 21 textile projects with total domestic investments of Rp 3.3 trillion and 29 foreign textile projects worth $333 million.

As of June, the board has, since 1967, approved 1,254 domestic investment textile projects valued at Rp 31.5 trillion, as well as 446 foreign textile projects worth $5.7 billion.

Textile has been the main contributor to the country's foreign exchange coffers, accounting for about 15 percent of the country's total exports. However, last year, Indonesia's exports of textiles and textile-related products dropped by 6.2 percent to $5.79 billion, from $6.2 billion in 1993. (rid)