Batik cooperatives body to expand textile capacities

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)