The textile and clothing industry has great potential in Indonesia

Thousands of years ago, along the “Maritime Silk Road”, textiles from Quanzhou Port were exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including Indonesia, and were highly favored. Today, thousands of years later, with the deepening and expansion of the new “Maritime Silk Road”, Quanzhou’s textile and garment industry may once again find a “blue ocean” for development in these countries.
“Indonesia’s textile and apparel industry has been at a low level of development for a long time, and the amount of imports is relatively large, so we very much hope that developed Chinese textile and apparel companies can come to Indonesia to invest in production and drive the sustainable development of this industry in Indonesia.” On the 21st, in an acceptance speech Feng Huilan, a Chinese from Fujian and Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, said this during an exclusive interview with the “New Century Silk Road Chinese Media Journey” reporter group.
​Dependent on large quantities of imports
There is an urgent need to improve the industrial level
On the morning of that day, the first Chinese female minister in Indonesian history accepted an interview with the press group at her residence in Jakarta. In line with Feng Huilan’s position, the meeting room on the first floor is decorated with a large number of characteristic handicrafts of various ethnic groups in Indonesia and local-style paintings. The large pottery container embossed with the Chinese character “福” shows in details that the Chinese are one of the more than 200 ethnic groups in Indonesia, which is also consistent with Feng Huilan’s Chinese identity.
When talking about the economic and trade exchanges between China and Indonesia, especially the gains made during the “golden decade” between China and ASEAN, Feng Huilan used the term “mutual benefit and win-win” to describe it. She said that although China currently has an obvious trade surplus, some people believe that economic and trade exchanges between the two countries are more beneficial to China. But in her view, the win-win results of cooperation between the two parties clearly deserve more attention.
“From the perspective of the types of imported and exported products, Indonesia mainly exports natural gas and coal to China, and imports machinery, telecommunications products, and textiles and clothing from China.” Feng Huilan said that this is a kind of economic and trade exchanges with complementary advantages. Enterprises and people of the two countries All benefited a lot from it. However, since textiles and clothing were once Indonesia’s largest traditional industry, many people question whether the long-term import of large amounts of related products from China will have a negative impact on Indonesia’s local similar industries.
In response to this phenomenon, Feng Huilan told reporters that objectively speaking, compared with the development level of the same industry in China, the quality of Indonesia’s textile and apparel products does need to be further improved. This also urgently requires textile and apparel companies including China to import advanced technology to Indonesia. equipment and management talent.
​Introducing policy support
Looking forward to complementing each other’s strengths and joining forces
“Since 2010, we have been calling on Chinese companies to come to Indonesia to support the textile industry, shoe factories, food and other industries. This kind of support is not the output of finished products in the Chinese manufacturing model, but more use of Chinese technology and equipment to invest in Indonesia. industry to achieve local production, sales and export.” Feng Huilan said.
Feng Huilan is very confident about such expectations. She said that in recent years, with the rapid economic development, China’s labor shortage has become increasingly prominent and labor costs have continued to rise. In contrast, as the world’s fourth most populous country and an emerging economy, Indonesia’s labor force is abundant and relatively cheap. , has considerable competitive advantages.
The reporter later learned that Indonesia’s textile and garment industry is concentrated in Bandung, West Java and Central Java. As early as 2011, in order to support the development of the country’s textile and apparel industry, the Indonesian government introduced relevant financial incentive policies. In terms of salary, the monthly salary of new textile and garment enterprise workers is around US$100, and the monthly salary of even skilled workers with many years of experience does not exceed US$200.
“We warmly welcome Quanzhou’s textile and garment companies to Indonesia, where they can complement each other’s strengths and join forces with Indonesian companies.” As an ethnic Chinese from Fujian, Feng Huilan has a natural affinity for her hometown. When she heard that Quanzhou was an important and advanced textile and garment base in China, she was very happy and immediately sent a warm invitation to entrepreneurs in her hometown thousands of kilometers away.
​News background
Southeast Asia has become a breakthrough point for Quanzhou’s textile and garment industry
News from the Quanzhou Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce shows that in recent years, in order to avoid the sharp rise in labor costs and trade barriers in European and American markets, Quanzhou’s textile industry has accelerated its migration to Southeast Asia. As of the end of May, more than 30 companies have invested and set up factories in Southeast Asia.
According to Quanzhou Customs statistics, in 2013, our city’s textile and clothing exports still maintained rapid growth, with the annual export volume of US$6.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 36.5%. The EU, ASEAN, and Africa were the top three export markets. Among them, exports to the ASEAN market including Indonesia were US$1.36 billion, a year-on-year increase of 65.6%.
At the same time, affected by many factors such as labor costs, Quanzhou’s textile and garment industry has also accelerated the pace of “going out”, especially towards Southeast Asia, which has historically been closely connected through the “Maritime Silk Road”. Since the end of 2012, the Quanzhou Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce has organized member companies to visit Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries three times to inspect investment activities in the textile and garment industry. At the end of April this year, the Quanzhou Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce and the Shishi Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce organized another group inspection to explore ways to break through the industry.