Chairman of the Presidium of the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industry Association (HIMKI) Abdul Sobur stated that the furniture and handicraft industry has bright prospects. This year, HIMKI plans that exports of the furniture and handicraft industries can continue to grow. “Among them, we have the strength of wood and rattan materials that are sufficient to support growth. In 2025, HIMKI has an export target of USD 5 billion, equivalent to IDR 80 trillion per year," he said to Kontan, Wednesday (6/4). In addition, Sobur added, the trade war between the United States (US) and China has also significantly boosted the export market. Where, Chinese production is subject to high taxes to enter the US. Thus, Indonesia has become a country that substitutes China, especially for solid wood and rattan furniture. Based on HIMKI's records, the US is still Indonesia's largest furniture export destination in 2021, contributing 54.04%, followed by Japan 7.15%, the Netherlands 4.95%, and Germany 3.82%. Meanwhile, furniture products for export contribution are still occupied by Wooden Furniture products, namely 56.60%, followed by 6.60% rattan furniture and 3.79% metal furniture.
Likewise with exports of handicraft products, where the US contributed 49.35% followed by Japan 7.72%, Malaysia 6.61% and the Netherlands 3.89%. In order to achieve the export target, in the future it will be necessary to increase additional production capacity and correlate with the addition of manpower to support the production target for exports. Sobur said, to achieve the export target of USD 5 billion per year in 2024, the growth that must be achieved is an average of 13.41% per year.In 2021, the realization of exports of the furniture and handicraft industry will reach USD 3.47 billion, while this year the realization of exports is expected to reach USD 3.93 billion. HIMKI noted that the growth of furniture and handicraft exports in 2021 reached 27.23% (YoY), which was the highest growth in the last 10 years (2009-2020).
In the future, HIMKI hopes that the export share can continue to increase by adding additional international exhibitions in the country to attract foreign buyers to visit the country. "In order for the image of national furniture and handicraft products to exist, offensive and massive activities are needed through participating in international exhibitions," explained Sobur. Sobur said that currently the only international exhibition held in Indonesia is the Indonesia International Furniture Expo (IFEX).
