Textile exports expected to keep declining

Textile exports expected to keep declining

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's textile exports, which started
falling in the forth quarter of last year, will likely continue
declining in the coming months due to decreased competitiveness
of its products and weaker demand in industrial countries.

"We have proposed measures to boost our textile exports and
will discuss them intensively with officials of various
government institutions," Chairman of the Indonesian Textile
Association (API) Handoko Tjokrosaputro told reporters after
meeting with President Soeharto at Bina Graha yesterday.

He said Indonesia's exports of textiles and textile products
continued increasing in the first nine months of last year "but
they fell sharply in the following four months."

Handoko met with Soeharto to invite him to open the 10th
conference of the International Apparel Federation (IAF) in Bali
in the middle of June.

The June 14-June 15 meeting is expected to attract 500
participants from various countries in Asia, Europe and America.

Handoko, who was accompanied by API executives, said he was
concerned over the decline in textile exports, which have been
the country's main earner of foreign exchange.

Price falls

Ministry of Trade data say Indonesia's exports of fabrics,
yarns and other textile materials increased by 20 percent in
volume to 441,240 tons last year from 367,560 tons in 1992, but
the 22.5 percent decline in prices caused the export value to
decrease by seven percent to US$2.63 billion from $2.83 billion.
Exports of garments rose 17.8 percent to 227,690 tons from
193,210 tons but the 6.1 percent decline in prices caused their
value to increase only by 10.6 percent to $3.5 billion from $3.16
billion.

All in all, Indonesia's revenue from exports of textiles and
textile products increased by 2.2 percent to $6.13 billion last
year from $6 billion in 1992.

Handoko acknowledged that the emergence of new textile
exporters -- China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India --
has increased competition on the world market.

Recession in some industrial countries put more pressure on
the prices of textiles and garments.

He said Indonesia should take measures to reduce the costs of
textile production and to improve quality if they want to
continue increasing exports.

There is no problem with the labor costs for textile
production but other costs have reduced the competitiveness of
Indonesian products, he said.

Textile company executives said recently that invisible costs,
particularly bribes for government officials to facilitate
business licensing and export procedures, have substantially
raised production costs in Indonesia. (riz)