It’s a disheartening trend that our market is still flooded with illegal products, because in Java alone there is a massive market for local textile products. “Instead, our market is being taken away by illegal products, and small- and medium-sized textile enterprises have to resort to cutting jobs, defaulting on their loans or even shutting down completely,” Benny said. He said the association would ask the government to limit the number of seaports where ships carrying imported goods could dock. “That way, customs will have an easier job of catching these illegal importers because their scrutiny can be more concentrated,” he said. Currently, in Java alone, there are six docking ports that receive imported goods, including Cilacap Seaport in Central Java and Ciwandan Seaport in Banten.Benny said the government could also protect the country’s textile producers by increasing import duty by 10 percent to 20 percent to reduce imports. “So what if it’s not a free-trade country, what we need now is a managed-trade country to protect the country’s interests.With the fluctuation in crude oil prices and the rising prices of commodities, our market intervention to the textile industry will not be as fierce,” Gunaryo said. However, according to data from the trade ministry, the textile industry continues to grow healthily, with exports in this year’s first quarter rising 4.6 percent to $2,524 million from $2,413 in the same period last year. However, the association revised downward its 2008 growth target to 10.7 percent from 11.4 percent to take into account the recent increase in fuel prices.Source: The Jakarta Post.com
Date:6/14/2008
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