TEXTILE INDUSTRIES NEED RP60 TRILLION FOR INVESTMENT

Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - Textile and textile product industries need an investment of Rp60.09 trillion to increase textile exports and domestic sales in the coming five years, an industry spokesman said.

Ade Sudrajat, secretary general of the Indonesian Textile Producers Association (API), said here on Wednesday the funds were needed to purchase raw materials, yarn , fibers, cloth, garments, workers' payment and new machines.

"It will be difficult for us to increase our textile exports if we do not make new investments," Sudrajat said.

He said in the 2010-2015 period the average increase target of the country's textile exports to the main destinations was nine percent, domestic sales six percent and ASEAN destination 30 percent.

In 2008, textile and textile products contributed 23.04 percent to the country's trade surplus and domestic market, or about 10.79 billion US dollars.

Indonesia's textile main export destinations were the United States, Japan, the European Union and the Middle East.

Over the past three years, Indonesia's textile exports to the United States grew by only about one to two percent worth 4.241 million dollars.

It's exports to Japan in 2008 experienced a rapid growth reaching 45 percent if compared with that a year earlier which stood at 503 million dollars.

Sudrajat said that even though Indonesia's exports were relatively high, it needed to cooperate with Vietnam to increase the volume of its exports to Japan.

"We will supply cloths to Vietnam so that they will export garments to Japan. The steps need to be taken because Vietnamese and Cambodian exports to Japan are freed from import duties," he said.

With regard to textile exports to the European countries in 2008, Sudrajat said that Indonesia's exports were valued at 1.670 million dollars. Indonesia's textile exports to those countries were high namely reaching 13 to 15 percent.

In the meantime domestic textile sales continued to increased reaching 5.22 billion dollars in 2008, he said.***2***