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.