The turmoil in the national textile and textile products (TPT) industry seems reluctant to end. Waves of layoffs of textile industry workers continue to occur today.
Chairman of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta said that throughout 2023 there will be around 70,000 textile industry workers who will be affected by employee rationalization, whether in the form of layoffs, contract termination or being laid off. As a comparison, in 2022 there were around 80,000 textile industry workers who were affected by employee rationalization.
"This number does not include TPT employees among IKM (small and medium industries)," he said, Tuesday (14/11).
This reduction in the number of employees cannot be separated from the condition of the national textile industry which is in decline because export demand is still slow. The increase in the Fed's benchmark interest rate caused global economic uncertainty which led to a decline in demand for textile products from Indonesia.
On the other hand, the domestic market, which should support local TPT producers, is still flooded with imported products, including illegal imported products.
APSyFI estimates that the national textile industry will not recover by the end of the year, even though demand for clothing products usually increases during the Christmas and year-end holiday seasons. 2024 will not necessarily be a pleasant period for the textile industry if the problem of minimal export demand and widespread imports of illegal products still occur.
The momentum of the 2024 Election does not necessarily help the performance of the textile industry as a whole. "There are orders for party campaign attributes and presidential and vice presidential candidates. But the numbers are not significant," he stressed.