Textile exports rise 60.8%

Textile exports rise 60.8%

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's textiles and textile-products export
value to quota countries jumped 60.8 percent to US$2.63 billion
during the first semester of this year from $1.64 billion in the
same period of 1997, according to a senior official at the
Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Sudar S.A. the director of exports for mining and industrial
products, also said on Thursday that the textile export value to
nonquota countries increased 34.1 percent to $2.34 billion during
the same period.

The textile quota markets are the U.S., Canada, the European
Union and Turkey.

Sudar, however, said that the U.S. was the largest export
market for Indonesian textiles and textile products. The value of
goods sent to the U.S. reached $1.21 billion during the first
semester of this year, a 68.7 percent increase from $715.71
million in the same period last year.

"The U.S. market has great potential," he said. (rei)