Govt vows to curb influx of cheap Chinese goods
Govt vows to curb influx of cheap Chinese goods
JAKARTA (JP): The government said on Tuesday it would find
ways to curb the influx of cheap Chinese goods, saying their
presence has severely undermined local industries.
Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan said that the
government would soon start evaluating whether the imports of the
cheap Chinese products complied with existing trade regulations.
He suspects dumping practices, or even smuggling activities,
are responsible for the flood of inexpensive Chinese products
that are sold at prices that are much lower than local products.
"They (China) may have efficient industries, but if products
are priced less than half of ours, then there must be something
wrong here," Luhut told reporters after opening an exhibition of
farming machines.
Cheap Chinese products have flooded domestic markets since
late last year and have since threatened various local industries
such as the footwear industry, the electronics industry and
manufacturers of farm machinery.
Luhut said that the government is considering measures to
prevent the flood of imports without harming relationships with
China.
He said that what worries him most is the danger of more
unemployment due to the large amount of cheap imports.
"This problem is a direct concern for laborers," he explained.
According to the Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo),
between 5,000 to 6,000 workers could soon be laid off every month
if the government fails to prevent imports of illegal footwear.
Aprisindo has estimated one dismissal per firm each time the
company reduces daily production by three pairs of shoes or five
pairs of sandals.
Dozens of labor-intensive footwear industries have already
reduced productions levels, due to large inflows of low priced
footwear in major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, North
Sumatra, the association said.
Aprisindo reported it had reached $580 million in exports
during the first six months of this year compared to $1.7 billion
throughout all of last year.
Aprisindo has set a target of $2 billion in export sales this
year. (bkm)