In spite of a positive year-on-year growth, Indonesia's textile and garment exports for the first quarter of the current year were affected due to sluggish demand from the European Union (EU), one of the leading importers of Indonesian textiles and clothing items.
With a 5 percent growth rate, textile and apparel exports for January-March period grew to US$ 3.5 billion, considerably below the double digit growth rate achieved during the same period last year, according to Indonesian Textile Association (API) Chairman Ade Sudrajat.
Speaking on the occasion of 10th Indonesia International Textile and Garment Machinery and Accessories Exhibition, Mr. Sudrajat said in spite of a fall in demand from EU countries, demand from the US and Japan helped the sector to post positive growth, and perform better than other textile producing countries like Turkey and North African nations that greatly rely on exports to Europe.
According to API's trade statistics, the EU and the US respectively account for over 10 percent and 40 percent of Indonesia's overall textile and garment exports, while Japan accounts for a 5 percent share.
As per the API's earlier projections, Indonesia's overall textile and clothing item export earnings are expected to grow by just 5 percent to US$ 13.97 during the current year, significantly lower than the 2011's growth rate of 18.2 percent.
According to Mr. Sudrajat, during the second quarter of the current year also, Indonesia's textile and garment exports are expected to grow at a rate of around five percent year-on-year.
Textile and clothing item imports from Indonesia are expected to have grown at a year-on-year rate of around 2-3 percent to US$ 2.6 billion to US$ 2.7 billion, during the first quarter of the current year, Mr. Sudrajat said.
He projected the country's overall textile and apparel imports for the current year to touch US$ 9.5 billion, up from last year's overall imports of US$ 9 billion.
Around 70 percent of Indonesia's overall textile imports in 2011 were from China, followed by South Korea and Thailand.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India