Kebumen roofing tiles a precarious source of income

Kebumen roofing tiles a precarious source of income

Singgir Kartana, Contributor/Kebumen

Kebumen has long been known as the center of the roofing tile
industry with thousands of small, medium and large businesses in
the regency.

Yet, the business is not as lucrative as it appears. Problems
ranging from a decline in business orders to environmental damage
have been shadowing it for the last few years.

There has been a significant drop in business orders. This is
mostly due to the emergence of similar roofing tile suppliers in
other parts of the country such as Jatiwangi, West Java, and
Karangpilang, East Java, in addition to the toll taken by the
economic crisis in 1997.

During the crisis, from which the country has yet to make a
full recovery, the roofing tile industry was among the most
affected, especially because the housing industry -- its main
market -- was also adversely affected by the crisis.

Many business owners reported that orders had declined by up
to 60 percent due to the crisis and the heightened competition in
the industry.

"Before the economic downturn, I could sell up to 600,000
roofing tiles per month. Now I'm lucky if I can sell 200,000 a
month," explained M Fuad, a roofing tile businessman from
Petanahan.

Marketing has also been a problem, for most tile producers in
the region, as many are focused more on production than
marketing. As a result, piles of roofing tiles have often
accumulated at the point of production.

Desperate producers are often forced to drop prices to rock-
bottom levels, an unable to turn a profit. In Kedawung, for
example, there used to be several hundred producers, but now
there are just 195, who have managed to keep operating.

Finally, in 2002 the business started to show signs of
recovery with the establishment of dozens of new producers.

From a quality point of view, accordingly, there has also been
a decline, especially due to the decreasing quality of raw
materials used.

With over 3,800 roofing tile businesses of all sizes operating
in the region, the clay needed for the industry here is more than
750,000 cubic meters per month. So far, rice fields have been the
most favorite source of clay.

However, unregulated and unmanaged quarrying of clay has not
only caused environmental problems, but also a decrease in the
quality. A reduced kaolinite content in the clay has resulted in
fewer high-quality roofing tiles.

It is for these particular reasons that the Kebumen regency
administration has linked up with the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) to deal with the problems related to
the supply of raw materials.

For problems related to marketing, the local Development
Planning Agency (Bappeda) is searching for potential markets
outside Java.

The roofing tile industry in Kebumen began during colonial
times, following the discovery of clay with a high kaolinite
content in the region in 1910 by two Dutch officers, Van der Sook
and Vlams, who then used it as the raw material for producing
roofing tiles and ceramic items.

They established the first roofing tile business in Kebumen in
the village of Pejagoan, and employed locals as workers.

The first roofing tile produced was what is locally known as
genteng kodok, quite thick tiles, which were sold in Batavia (as
Jakarta was known as that time). The Dutch Administration later
used these types of tiles for all the roofs of train stations
built in Java.

In 1913, the first roofing tile factory belonging to an
indigenous businessman was established in Soka subdistrict and
named AB Sokka. After 10 years, dozens of industrial centers
producing similar roofing tiles had emerged in the region.

"At that time, producers used only manual equipment, not
molding machines like they do now present," said Basuki of
Kebumen Cooperatives and Industrial Office.

Since that time, many more businesspeople got involved until
the number of producers ran into the thousands at its peak in the
1980s, when the government eased access to banks.

It was during that time that Sokka roofing tiles, as the
products were known, became a booming industry in the region,
both in volume and number of producers. It was also during that
time that modern, high-capacity production machinery began to be
employed in the region.

Consequently, the need for more raw materials rose sharply.
Rice fields became a favored source of raw materials for the
production of roofing tiles.

At least 4,000 producers were operating in the region. They
could be found in the subdistricts of Pejagoan, Sruweng, Klirong,
Adimulyo and Petanahan.

Some successful producers including Agus Subekti, Nurhadiyanto
and Iman Sukardi were established during that period.

According to data from the regency's Cooperatives and Industry
Office, currently over 3,800 roofing tile business units of all
sizes exist in the regency.

They produce over 600 million tiles with a value of more than
Rp 270 billion and generate a pretax income of over Rp 90 billion
per year.

Such a booming business should be a potential source of income
for the regency. However, Basuki of the Kebumen Cooperative and
Industrial Office said it was not, because of the fact that only
about 25 percent of the existing roofing tile businesses were
formal business institutions.

The remainder are just informal, cottage industries, which
makes it is difficult for the local government to generate tax
from them.

"The business also fluctuates greatly. A previously large,
tax-paying business unit, for example, can go bankrupt in just a
few months, making it difficult for the government to calculate
the tax contribution of the business as a whole," Basuki said.

From the manpower point of view, the business has absorbed
over 48,000 workers, most of whom are women, and has supported
almost 1.5 million people in the region if each worker is assumed
to support, on average, three other people in their family.

Further examination, however, reveals that the figure is not
that great. That is because the wages paid to the workers are
quite low, at only Rp 6,000 to Rp 7,000 per day per worker
(approximately Rp 160,000 (US$18) per month).

In other words, the business has yet to provide genuine
economic security to local people and only the
entrepreneurs/owners enjoy a real benefit from the industry.

"It's not surprising that the younger generation is reluctant
to work in the sector. They prefer to go to big cities like
Jakarta to look for work, or even abroad as migrant workers,"
Mariam, 31, a labor activist said.