The textile and textile product (TPT) industry is optimistic that export performance will remain high at US$ 12 billion or around IDR 171.6 trillion throughout 2022. Secretary-General of the Indonesian Filament Yarn and Fiber Producers Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta said the projection was due to stable demand from the European and US markets throughout 2021. "We can see that China is still not able to fully run due to the energy crisis, so there will be a transfer of orders from European and United States buyers, our buyer trust is greater than Vietnam," said Redma via WhatsApp message, Wednesday (9/2/2022). According to Redma, demand for exports from abroad is relatively high despite the recovery in world supply chains this year. However, he said, the increase in production costs is considered to hamper the competitiveness of domestic products in the world market. Besides Indonesia, the transfer of orders from China was also aimed at Bangladesh and India as one of the largest textile producers in the world. "The internal obstacle is still the electricity tariff, which we do not know how much it will increase in April 2022. We hope that the government's policy is pro-people by providing normal coal prices for PLN and its DMO commitment," he said.
In addition, the contribution of the textile industry to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the manufacturing sector was 6.08% in the third quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, the growth of the textile industry quarterly also improved to 4.27% (q to q) when compared to 0.48% in the second quarter of 2021. Textile exports in the January-October 2021 period also increased by 19% to US$ 10.52 billion, in addition to the investment value which also increased by 12% to IDR 5.06 trillion. Previously, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) projected the trade balance surplus this year to be in the position of US$ 31.4 billion to US$ 31.7 billion. The projection is a decrease of 11.39% when compared to the 2021 surplus of US$ 35.44 billion. Head of the Trade Assessment and Development Agency (BP3) at the Ministry of Trade Kasan Muhri said the trade balance projection adjustment was based on the outlook for global commodity prices, which tended to decline at the beginning of this year. “The increase in the price of supercycle commodities is still the driver of the increase in the value of Indonesia's exports. But looking at previous experiences, this condition will not last long," Kasan said via WhatsApp message, Wednesday (9/2/2022).
