Textile producers asked to follow buyers' tastes

JAKARTA (JP): Producers of textile related products should follow the tastes of their overseas buyers if they want to survive in the new millennium, according to a textile expert.

Senior textile producer Chamroel Djafri said on Wednesday that monitoring buyers' inclinations was a must for the country's textile producers.

In addition, producers should also follow international quality standards such as the ISO 9000 quality management standardization, he said.

The full liberalization of the textile trade within the next few years will result in fiercer competition in the textile market, said Chamroel, a senior advisor of the Indonesian Textile Association said.

He said Indonesian exporters would survive the tight market only if they were able to meet the market demand for good quality and fashionable products, he added.

An important aspect which must be followed by exporters, according to him, is the improvement in the treatment of their goods, especially during shipment.

"Proper product handling is necessary to guarantee the fabrics' quality when it reaches the destination country.

The delivery of the products should always be on time, especially to countries, which have four seasons, such as the United States and Europe," he said.

"They should be responsive and quick in fulfilling the orders from their buyers," he said at the launch of the DHL Worldwide Express Fashion First service.

He added that lack of information about export procedures could create inconvenience later in the destination countries, ranging from prolonged customs paperwork to product reshipment to the exporter's country.

"Indonesia's textile and garment industry is an important foreign exchange contributor that has been growing steadily over the years. It accounted for US$7.8 billion or nearly a fifth of the country's total non-oil exports," technical advisor of Birotika Semesta/DHL Worldwide Express Bruce Hampson said.

"Unfortunately the industry is not adequately serviced," he said adding that importer countries, like the U.S. have complicated customs requirements.

"An incorrect application would cost the exporters's time and money," he said.

He added that the company has trained 250 of its staff on customs skills specific to textile and garment exports to provide free customs brokerage.

Mike Fitzpatrick, the company's senior technical advisor said the Fashion First service utilizes a specially designed delivery box to guarantee the fabrics' quality and a special customs documentation holder for easy identification.

The service adopts Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technology which enables import procedures at the port of entry to be carried out before the shipment arrives.(06)