As cheap imported textile products continue to flood the market pushing the domestic industry to losses, the Indonesian Textile Association (API) has called on the government to regulate imports. The domestic market was expected to continue to be flooded with imported products in the next two to three years, says API chairman Ade Sudrajat. And to protect the domestic market, imported textile products have to be managed. So would the illegal smuggling of used clothes, he added.

Ade says the government could control the wave of textile imports primarily from China, by setting a reference price. As per Industry Ministry data, the textile industry experienced a loss of Rp 30 trillion ($2.2 billion) per year due to rampant illegal smuggling.

In a rejoinder the ministry's director general for chemicals, textile and miscellaneous industry, Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono said it would collaborate with the Trade Ministry and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, Indonesia to curb illegal imports. The utilisation of textile's upstream industry currently stands at 50 to 60 percent. Thus, there should be a new policy to support the industry.