Indonesia saw an increase in textile production by eight per cent in the period January to March 2018.The increase was triggered by domestic demand and tightening of wholesale and other imports.

After the policy of bulk import curbing, the performance of textile and textile products in the second half of 2017 rose to reach a 2.5 per cent growth from the previous year.

The industry now wants an integrated cluster and close to the source of raw materials; a tightening of textile imports; affordable factory rental rates; upstream and downstream industries integrated in one region.

Indonesia hopes to triple textile and textile product exports in the next five years. If this happens, this sector will be Indonesia’s largest non-oil export contributor and create jobs for six million people.

In 2016, apparel exports from this southeast Asian nation decreased 3.2 per cent due to several challenges including high logistics costs and gas and power tariffs being higher than other competitor countries.

At present, the US is the largest clothing importer from Indonesia. If the country were to lobby with the US to expand its Generalised System of Preferences to include more Indonesian apparel and accessories, this would facilitate the entry of more Indonesian products into the US at lower tariffs.