Textile industry growing from strength to strength

31 Jul '08

2 min read

According to statistics released by the Department of textiles, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Indonesia, the textile and garment industry in the country is growing from strength to strength.

The sector is witnessing all-round growth whether related to employment, production, investment or exports. The growth varies from a high of 11.23 percent in production by volume to a low of 1 percent in the number of new companies set up in 2007 when compared with 2006.

Production in the industry grew from Indonesian rupiah (IDR) 99.15 billion to IDR 102.27 billion in 2007, which represents an increase of 3.09 percent corresponding to the same period in 2006.

Exports from the country saw a growth of 3.86 percent by value though it witnessed a miniscule negative growth of 0.35 percent by volume. It grew from US $ 9.44 billion in value to $9.81 billion in 2007.

Compared to exports, imports however saw a phenomenal growth. Imports grew by 16.56 percent to reach US $1.99 billion in 2007 in contrast to $1.71 billion in 2006, as a result of which the sector recorded a trade surplus of $8.02 billion in 2007 versus $7.73 billion in 2006.

Employment numbers jumped from 1,190,656 to 1,234,250, number of companies from 2,699 to 2,726 in 2006 and 2007 to register a growth of 3.66 percent and 1.00 percent respectively.

Irrespective of the all the issues affecting the sector in general, including the recession in USA and a very likely one in the European Union, the textile and garment industry of Indonesia has shown its resilience to withstand adversities in its path.

The industry is expected to fare much better in the current year, particularly in shipments to the Japanese markets, since that country has granted a zero percent duty status for imports of textiles goods from Indonesia effective from July 1, 2008.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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