Indonesia’s textile exports rose 2.71 per cent in the first half of 2017.

The national textile industry is going in for product innovation and advances in manufacturing technology. The industry now no longer meets the needs of clothing and fashion but has entered technical textiles such as geo textiles, medical textiles, automotive industry, and nonwoven.

The industry is going in for product diversification.

With the development effort, it can reduce its import dependence and save foreign exchange at the same time.

Value addition has become the norm. Currently, the textile industry is already integrated and 90 per cent of the market’s needs is produced domestically. Therefore the increase of value addition in Indonesia is also important to meet the domestic market, in addition to exports.

The country hopes that by the end of 2017 textile exports will reach 12.09 billion dollars and 15 billion dollars by 2019.

In the first half of 2017, the growth rate of the export-oriented labor-intensive sector increased by 1.92 per cent year on year. In the same period of the previous year, the industry’s exports were at minus 0.13 per cent.

Indonesia is working to improve competitiveness and productivity in the textile industry, facilitating logistical access and strengthening local branding.