Govt asked to remove leather import ban

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)