Govt asked to remove leather import ban

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) and five leather-related industries have called on the government to remove the ban on imports of leather raw materials.

In a joint statement, they said the ban had severely hurt the leather-related industries, which still relied mostly on imported raw materials to support their operations.

"We urge the government to immediately revoke the policy," the statement said.

Those five associations include the Association of Indonesian Footwear (Aprisindo), Association of Indonesian Leather Tanning Industries (Apki), Association of Indonesian Exporters and Handicraft Producers (Asephi), Association of Indonesian Cattle Traders (Pepehani), and Association of Indonesian Leather Handicraft (Askrakindo).

The Ministry of Agriculture through its Directorate General for Livestock Production issued on April, 20 a decree to ban imports of leather raw materials including wet pickle, wet blue, crust, and finished leather over fears that the leather could bring foot-and-mouth disease into the country.

Last year, the ministry had also issued a similar decree to ban leather imports from South Korea and Japan amid worries over the endemic foot-and-mouth disease, but it was then removed after strong protests from leather industries.

Djimanto, Aprisindo's secretary-general, said that many footwear makers were forced to scale down their operations due to the shortage of raw materials. "If the ban continued, many workers would have to be laid off," he said.

Indonesia imported leather raw materials from Australia, Argentina, France, Germany, and the United States to meet the demand from the country's leather-related industries.

"The local supply accounts only for about 40 percent of the total needs," Djimanto said.

He feared that the local leather industries, which export a large part of their products, would not be able to make the delivery on time due to the ban.

"Our buyers from the United States, Japan, and European countries have asked us about the impact of the ban on the delivery of the products they ordered," Djimanto said. (03)