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)