Increase in imports leads to decline in Indonesa’s sale of domestic apparels during Eid

The increasing sales of imported apparel products ahead of Eid is one of the reasons for the decline of domestic sales, says Redma Gita Wiraswasta, Secretary General, Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI).

As per Indo Textiles, Redmainformed Indonesia’s sale of textile raw materials during this Eid period fell by 30 per centUtilization also dropped to 70 percent for fiber and 65 percent for yarn, he added.

Redma explained, the local textile market has continued to decline since the end of March 2021, especially in the downstream areas such as weaving and apparel. He said that people prefer to buy imported apparel online compared to local textile products offline.

According to him, the textile industry has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the first quarter of 2021, not many imported goods entered. Thus, local producers can dominate the market.

Redma said the textile industry could recover if the government could stem the invasion of imports. According to him, local products are still difficult to compete with imported products because the prices of imported apparel are sold very cheaply.