HIMKI pushes craft transformation to achieve US$6 billion export target
The Indonesian Furniture and Craft Industry Association (HIMKI) is pushing for a transformation of the national craft sector as part of efforts to achieve an export target of $6 billion for furniture, crafts, and home décor by 2031.
HIMKI Chairman Abdul Sobur said achieving this target requires a paradigm shift in the national industry, from mere manufacturing towards design and innovation, from commodity towards value creation, as well as strengthening brands and gradually mastering the global market.
“We ourselves must improve productivity, design, quality, technology, sustainability and competitiveness. What we need is access to an increasingly open world market as well as trade policies that enable Indonesian products to compete fairly in the global market,” said Abdul Sobur in a statement confirmed in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said that to accelerate the achievement of the export target, the Ministry of Trade and HIMKI have formed a task force that will accelerate the growth of Indonesian furniture, craft, and home décor exports towards $6 billion by 2031.
This was conveyed during the campaign and socialisation event for Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2026 for the Furniture & Home Decor sector in Solo on Thursday, which was attended by Ministry of Trade officials, industry players, and other stakeholders.
Furthermore, HIMKI believes Indonesia already possesses various instruments to expand export markets, ranging from Trade Expo Indonesia, IFEX, business matching, trade missions, to Indonesia’s trade representative networks in various countries.
However, these instruments need to be more integrated so that information about market potential can be translated into concrete buyers and generate transactions.
HIMKI is also encouraging export diversification targeting the Middle East, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, Africa, Latin America, and various emerging markets.
Furthermore, the association views TEI 2026 Furniture & Home Decor not merely as an exhibition activity, but as part of a strategy to connect Indonesia’s production capabilities with international buyers.
According to him, the success of an exhibition cannot be measured solely by the number of participants and visitors, but must continue into business matching, transactions, and repeat orders.
Previously, Minister of Creative Economy/Head of the Creative Economy Agency Teuku Riefky Harsya said the fashion and craft subsectors were the main contributors to the creative economy, with total export value reaching $28.4 billion, or approximately Rp476.3 trillion (at an exchange rate of Rp16,780), in January–November 2025.
Citing data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), Teuku said the fashion subsector recorded export value of $16.37 billion (approximately Rp274.7 trillion), while crafts contributed $12.03 billion (approximately Rp201.9 trillion).