Strengthening of rupiah affects trade at expo

JAKARTA (JP): The recent strengthening of the rupiah has affected transactions at the 1998 Indonesian Export Products exhibition at the Jakarta Fairgrounds.

Several foreign buyers told The Jakarta Post on Friday that they found the exhibited products more expensive than they previously expected.

Some complained over prices of wood furniture and textile products.

"The exhibition is quite good, but the prices of furniture are much more expensive here than those in Jepara (Central Java)," said Franky Peters, an Australian who has resided in Bali for four years.

Nigerian Samuel Agus, who often shops for textiles at Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, also cited the high prices.

"I am looking for textile products. Their prices basically remain inexpensive, but I could get much lower prices at traditional markets."

Exhibitors contacted by the Post said they recorded few or no transactions on Friday.

Meggy Lukmanjaya, who exhibits children's garments and accessories, said she recorded no sales on Friday because most of the visitors were just "window-shopping"

"We had no transactions today. Most of the buyers said they were still choosing the products. I think it's because of the weakening of the dollar."

Meggy said she changed the price tags of her products following the appreciation of the rupiah. As a result, many of her Middle Eastern customers had canceled their orders because they disagreed with her marked-up prices.

"The problem is that they ordered at a time when the rupiah was still at the 13,000 level per U.S. dollar. Now, one dollar has become Rp 7,000."

Gloomy

Anton Rousallem, a marketing employee of a textile company, said most of his buyers from South Africa withdrew their orders because of the exchange rate problem.

"They said, 'we have to wait-and-see first'. I think they said so because the prices are getting higher in dollar terms."

Exhibitors said they were charged Rp 5 million (US$640) per nine-square-meter site for the five-day exhibition.

Despite the gloomy tales from exhibitors, the organizer reported on Friday that transactions had reached $20.2 million, with two days of the event remaining.

Top buyers were Indonesian trading firms or individuals ($5,6 million), U.S. companies ($2,2 million) and German ones ($2.1 million).

Most sought-after products were wood and rattan furniture, glassware, stationary, plastic ware, handicrafts, toys and kitchen equipment.

The report also said the number of buyers up to the second day of the exhibition had reached 1,923 people from 89 countries.

Of this number, 1,639 were individual buyers and the rest were members of trade missions. (29)