Indonesian Textile Competes with China

Sumber :

VIVAnews - The China textile domination in the Japanese market is going to be outwitted by the national textile production. "After the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (IJEPA) signing, we are sure that we are going to outdo China and become the biggest textile importer in Japan," said Benny Soetrisno, chairperson of the Indonesian Textile Association during the "Latest Condition of Japan Textile and Garment Market" seminar in the Industry Department office, Jakarta on Monday, Feb. 23.

Until the end of 2007, China was still the biggest importer in Japan with 77 percent market segment. While Indonesia had to be satisfied with second biggest with a very small market segment, i.e. 1.76 percent.

Nonetheless, Indonesia's target in 2008 is that the national textile and textile product market in Japan would increase up to 3 percent. "The number will again increase to 3.5 percent this year," said the Director General of Metal, Machinery, Textile, and Multifarious Industries of the Industry Department, Anshari Bukhari.

Soetrisno suggested that the domestic industry does not have to be hasty in dominating the Japanese market. It has to be slow because the Japanese is very thorough and careful, but also loyal. A similar wish was also expressed by the Japanese government according to Soetrisno.

"They want to buy as much as possible to decrease the textile import dependency with China," he said. Soetrisno said that Japan does not want to only depend on one country. "Dependency is not a good thing, although Japan is not force its market not to buy China's product. They are just giving more incentive to buy textile from ASEAN," he said.

Soetrisno again added that China domination is possible because of the close distance between the two countries. "It only takes two days by a ship; from Indonesia, it will take a week," he said. In terms of logistics, Indonesia needs to compete with Vietnam and Thailand that also have the same distance.

"The important thing is to strengthen our partnership with Japan and increase the number of trade partners," said Soetrisno.

The same opinion is also mentioned by the Director International Textile and Clothing Trade Office Manufacturing Industries Bureau Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan, Shigeru Takagi. He said, "To penetrate the Japanese market, people need to have partners in the country for cooperating."

Takagi also feels that the garment industry needs to look at the market demand and pay attention to actual conditions. "Japan's economic condition, like the minister said, changes fast because of the influence of four seasons, which is small batch with a very short cycle," he said.

The Indonesian Industry Minister, Fahmi Idris, in his greeting said that the national textile and textile product industry need to gather as much information as possible on Japanese market that should include product, fashion and design trend, material, distribution system, and other competitor countries.

For that reason after the seminar, Japan will make a visit to several factories in Bandung. And vice versa, Indonesia will also visit Japan. "They will see how far the domestic production can be accepted in Japanese market," Idris said.

On 24 February, a Japanese delegation is scheduled to visit several factories in Bandung, such as PT Guccitex, PT Deliatex, PT Metro Garmin, PT Daisei, and PT Delami, and also the Bandung Textile Hall. On 25 February, the second Working Group to follow up the seminar will be held.

"The Japanese market has a unique characteristic. It is high fashion and high value in small batch small lots," said Idris. Moreover, the Japanese market demands fast transportation process to fulfill its four season demands.

The Japanese Ambassador for Indonesia, Kojiro Shiori, knew that Indonesian export to Japan is bigger compared to Japanese import to Indonesia. "For textile and garment product, Japan only issues 4,500 origin certificate, while Indonesia has already issued 22,000 certificates for their exporters," said Shiori. It means that, he added, Indonesia's export will be able to rise along with the high number of issued certificate.

Other than that, the Japan's investment to Indonesia doubled to US$1,365 billion compared to 2007. Soetrisno explained that Japan prefers upstream industry or raw materias for clothes investment. There is only one Indonesian clothing investment recorded in Japan, which is Tokai Texprint Indonesia.

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Translated by: Ariyantri E. Tarman