Over 4,500 Confectionery Businesses Collapse in 7 Years, This Is How It Began

Indonesia’s small and medium-sized confectionery industry is beginning to show signs of recovery after experiencing a sharp decline since 2019. Although it has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, growth trends have been evident in the last two years.

“If we look at now, it was down to 30% from 8,000, around 3,000, 3,000-3,500,” said Nandi Herdiaman, General Chairman of the Ikatan Pengusaha Konveksi Berkarya (IPKB), to CNBC Indonesia on Thursday (16/4/2026).

The number of confectioneries experienced a significant shrinkage in recent years. This condition is in stark contrast to before the pandemic, when the number of confectioneries was at a much higher level.

“Before Eid, it was still 8,000, around 2019 before the pandemic,” he said.

The decline in the number of business players did not happen suddenly, but occurred gradually, with the greatest pressure during the pandemic and afterwards. The COVID-19 pandemic became the starting point for the massive shrinkage in this sector.

“The pandemic dropped it to 40%, then in 2022, 2023, 2024 it dropped again to around 30% because of a lot of illegal imports,” he explained.

Pressure from cheap imported products worsened the already strained situation due to weakened demand during the pandemic.

However, entering 2025, conditions began to turn around with improvements on the market side and import supervision. The number of business players started to show an increase, although still limited.

“From 2025 to 2026, it’s already starting to rise, around 5%,” he said.

One factor driving this recovery is the tightening of the flow of imported goods.

“That’s right, because imports are being tightened a bit more,” he said.

Nevertheless, he emphasised that this recovery still heavily depends on the continuity of domestic market protection policies.

“If the market is protected, we will definitely grow back,” Nandi concluded.