Challenges for Indonesia's textile and clothing industry

Indonesia is ranked among the world’s top 10 textile producing countries. The textile and clothing industry is one of the country’s oldest sectors and, being labour intensive, a major source of employment.

However, Indonesia is far from threatening China’s dominant position. Whereas China controls about 35% of global textile markets, Indonesia controls only 2%.

The Indonesian government aims to increase the country’s value of exported textiles and clothing to US$75bn by 2030, implying that this industry will contribute around 5% of global exports.

However, Indonesia is facing several challenges: the upstream sector is largely inadequate (causing a reliance on imports of raw materials) and requires an injection of investment, technology and expertise, while competition from other textile producing nations in South East Asia, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar, is rising.

For the full story, see the August 2017 edition of Textiles South East Asia. Not a subscriber? Sign up HERE