Local producers stand up to influx of imports

Local producers stand up to influx of imports

JAKARTA (JP): An influx of cheap imported paper onto the
domestic market has not yet affected local producers, a senior
Ministry of Industry and Trade official said on Wednesday.

Gatot Ibnu Santoso, the ministry's director general of
chemical, agricultural and forestry products, said the imported
paper would not hurt local producers because it was mostly of a
lower quality than paper produced in the country.

He acknowledged that paper products from several countries,
particularly Russia and Chile, have been selling for low prices
in Indonesia.

Some of the imported paper has been sold in Indonesia for
prices around 40 percent lower than local paper products, he
said.

"The volume of paper imported from these two countries is
still small in terms of volume. Therefore it is not adversely
affecting local producers," Gatot told reporters after the
opening of a paper exhibition at his ministry.

An official from PT Balabak Kertas, a state paper company,
said that paper products imported from Russia and Chile sold on
the local market for Rp 4,500 per kilogram, much lower than the
rate of Rp 7,000 rupiah per kilogram commonly charged for local
products.

Gatot said the price of local paper products has declined by
more than 50 percent following the rupiah's recent rally against
the U.S. dollar.

The rupiah has strengthened to a range between Rp 7,000 and Rp
8,500 against the dollar in recent weeks. In August it was
trading at around Rp 11,000.

Gatot said that HVS paper was now selling for Rp 14,000 per
pack whereas several months ago it cost Rp 40,000 per pack.

Indonesia has 16 pulp plants with a total production capacity
of 3.3 million tons a year and 74 paper factories with a total
production capacity of 7.2 million tons a year.

"Indonesia exports paper products to several Asian countries,
including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, South
Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and India." he said. (29)