Indonesia plans to ease licensing procedures to import raw materials as its manufacturing sector is witnessing the impact of supply chain disruption from China caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Simplifying import procedures for raw materials would be one of the strategic measures to cope with the impact. Almost 500 companies will receive special permits to allow them to import raw materials from sources other than China. The raw materials imported by the 500 companies account for two-fifths of the country’s total raw material imports. There has been severe disruption to the supply of raw materials from China, especially for the plastic, textile, footwear, steel and chemical products industries of Indonesia.

Indonesia’s garment exports for the 10 month period until October 2019, decreased 3.6 per cent. The three biggest destinations for Indonesian garment exports are the United States, Japan and Germany. Until October 2019, the Indonesian garment market share in the US market fell from 4.6 in 10 months of 2018 to 4.4 per cent in 10 months of 2019. Growth in the textile industry and textile products in the third quarter of 2019 increased to 15.08 per cent. This achievement is much higher than the achievement in the same period in 2018, which is 10.08 per cent.