This is the Local Industry's Strategy to Face Export Challenges Amid Global Conflicts

The dynamics of the global market amid conflicts shaking the Middle East are being managed by labour-intensive industry players in Nganjuk, East Java. One of them was explained by the Director of PT Mitra Saruta Indonesia, Hoo Yanto Andrian, who has his own tricks to face the current turbulent world economy.

Yanto emphasised that his company has been engaged in exports for more than three decades and is accustomed to handling global market dynamics. “The current situation (we have) experienced before. So we are used to facing such conditions,” he said during the Site Visit and Media Briefing of the Ministry of Finance with the theme “Ministry of Finance Supports Labour-Intensive Sector to Support Economic Growth”, held in Nganjuk, East Java, on Thursday (16/4/2026).

Yanto explained that the company’s main markets are still centred in Japan and the United States, but the marketing strategy is now more aggressive in opening both traditional markets and new regions. “We have exported to South Africa, and Egypt for quite some time. Several European countries that were previously our traditional markets, including Portugal and Spain, are still ongoing continuously,” he added.

Yanto also highlighted the company’s resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. He mentioned that exports once dropped by 50 percent, but within four months, recovery reached 40 to 80 percent, and within one year, it was almost back to 90 percent. “Our recovery rate against such risks is quite good. Why did that happen? Because of the alternative products we have,” he explained. These alternative products serve as a solution when markets seek cheaper substitutes, both domestically and for exports.