President wants more exports of textiles

President wants more exports of textiles

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto asked yesterday that the
Indonesian Textile Association make concerted efforts to increase
exports of textiles and textile products, which last year dropped
8.1 percent to US$5.6 billion over the previous year.

"President Soeharto instructed us to find ways to improve our
exports," the association's new chairman, Bambamg Yoga Soegomo,
told journalists after meeting with Soeharto.

The chairman of the Textile Society, I Made Kembar Kerepun,
who accompanied Bambang in yesterday's meeting, said that it
would be hard for Indonesia to increase its textile exports
because the increase of quotas set by major importing are very
minimum.

"It is merely an illusion if we want to increase our textile
exports to the United States by 20 percent this year because the
annual increase of the quota given to us is only six percent,"
Kerepun said.

He suggested that the most possible way to increase exports is
raising shipments to non-quota countries. "But again, we have to
face competitors such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh."

Bambang said his association is asking the government to
involve it in the management of quota allocations among
Indonesian exporters.

Such quota allocation is now managed by the Ministry of Trade.

"The current system of quota management makes fictitious
exports possible. If the government agrees to use our electronic
verification visa system, such ill practices will never happen,"
Bambang said.

Last year, Indonesia was hit by fictitious textile exports
which involved a number of companies wanting to get cheap funds
from export facilities.(rid)