RI would welcome Japanese textiles

RI would welcome Japanese textiles

JAKARTA (JP): Japan would be better off relocating its textile manufacturing activities to Indonesia rather than invoking protectionist measures against imports, Chairman of the National Agency for Export Development Rudy Lengkong said yesterday.

"If Japan's textile industry cannot compete anymore with developing countries, why doesn't it relocate the facilities to developing countries like Indonesia," Lengkong told reporters after addressing a business luncheon hosted by the Indonesian- Netherlands Association.

Lengkong noted that Japan's textile industry might lose competitiveness due to the sharp appreciation of the yen against other major currencies.

Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) launched a probe late last month into certain Asian textile imports, which may result in Japan's first curbing of imported industrial goods.

The move was made at the request of the Japan Spinners Association and the Japan Cotton and Stable Fiber Weavers Association. The two associations claim they have been damaged by a flood of imported Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian thread as well as Chinese and Indonesian cloth, both of which are used to manufacture shirts and other garments.

Japan's Ambassador Taizo Watanabe said here on Tuesday that the MITI will soon conduct another study into textile imports from Indonesia and hold talks with the parties concerned. Any decision on the matter, he said, will be made after the study is completed.

"If Japan considers a reduction in imports, it contradicts its own policy of importing more products from developing countries to reduce its huge trade surplus," Lengkong said.

Japan imported $189.9 million of textiles from Indonesia last year, as compared to $1.66 billion from China and $586.1 million from South Korea. (rid)