Cirebon kitchenware industry in truble

Cirebon kitchenware industry in truble

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post/Cirebon

Kitchenware producers in Cirebon regency, West Java province,
have been facing a severe shortage of raw material in the form of
aluminum scrap over the past few months ago, leaving the industry
in disarray.

If the problem persists for another few weeks, the metal
industry in Cirebon would close down and hundreds of workers lose
their livelihoods.

"Suppliers prefer to export aluminum scrap for price reasons,
rather than sell it to us. They have been selling it for the last
couple of months to scrap traders in Jakarta for higher prices.
The traders then export it overseas," said Ganef Sugianto, 40, of
the PD Marta Putra Jaya firm, a small metal goods producer in
Jadimulya subdistrict, North Cirebon district, Cirebon regency.

Ganef said that the aluminum scrap suppliers usually came from
Tasikmalaya and Panguragan district in Cirebon regency. "We rely
on them for our supplies, but we can no longer depend on them,"
he said.

According to Ganef, all six kitchenware manufacturers in
Cirebon regency are in dire straits. They will only be able to
survive for another month, and the fate of 400 workers hangs in
the balance.

The six companies produce aluminum kitchenware, especially
pots and frying pans. Three of them are located in Pasindangan
village, and one each in Jadimulya, Pangkalan and Grenjeng
villages.

Another entrepreneur, Mrs. Lilik, 37, of the CV Setiawan firm
in Pasindangan village, said that she had been having
difficulties in obtaining raw materials since January. The
scarcity had caused prices to soar.

Previously, the price of a kilogram of aluminum scrap was Rp
8,000 (88 U.S. cents), while the price now stood at Rp 12,000.

"The price keeps fluctuating, but is always generally on the
up. The price rose to Rp 13,500 per kilogram last week," said
Lilik.

Ganef said that he had previously received his supplies of
aluminum raw materials from Tangerang, Bandung, West Java, and
Tegal in Central Java. Besides these, supplies were also sourced
from nearby areas in Cirebon regency, such as Panguragan
district.

"But at the moment, the supplies from Bandung, Tangerang and
Tegal have totally dried up. We can only get supplies from
Panguragan now, but in limited quantities," said Ganef.

"In reality, we use aluminum junk such as old pots and pans or
other things made of aluminum. We melt them down and recycle them
into new pots and pans. But it's very hard to even get the junk
now," said Ganef.

He said his company had been forced to reduce production, and
now only produced between 400 and 500 pots and pans per day,
compared to 800 previously. The drop in production had resulted
in the firm's revenue declining by 50 percent. "We used to earn
about Rp 120 million in gross profit per month, but since the
scarcity of raw materials hit the industry earlier this year, we
are only making Rp 60 million a month on average," said Ganef.

The drop in production had also affected the labor force. His
company now only employed half of the 40 workers it employed a
few months ago.

Lilik said that she now only employed 30 workers. Previously,
her form often employed as many as 100.

"We used to produce 1,000 pots and pans daily. It's terrible
to think that we can only produce 500 of them now," said Lilik.

Both Ganef and Lilik hoped that the government at both the
central and local levels would immediately lend a hand to
overcome the problem. They said that now was the right time for
the government, especially the provincial administration, to help
small businesses resolve the issue.

Separately, Cirebon Regent Dedi Supardi told The Jakarta Post
that his administration had only recently become aware about the
difficulties the kitchenware industry was facing.

He promised to act quickly to overcome the problem. "We will
form a team to immediately resolve these difficulties. We have to
save local small-scale industries as these employ large numbers
of workers," said Dedi.

Maman, 26, a worker with PD Marta Putra Jaya, said that he was
worried about the drop in production, and that he and his co-
workers were afraid of losing their jobs.

"I've been doing all right working here. I get Rp 25,000 daily
for working from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.," said Maman, an elementary
school graduate.