Indonesia’s Import Identification Number (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat has said that rising food prices have forced people of Indonesia put aside their clothing preferences. The absorption of the domestic market, up to May, decreased 10 per cent compared to that of the same month in 2015. This information is based on a data received from the Indonesian Textile Association (API). According to API chairman, the performance of domestic market this year was far worse than that of last year. It was a sorry plight to notice that the rise in food prices rise has affected the purchasing power of the people.

Fortunately, the export market did not go down. In the period from January to April, the value of exports of textiles and textile products reached USD 3.96 billion. That figure is relatively stagnant compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the total value of exports reached $12.28 billion. The performance of Indonesian textile exports stagnated because of the competition from Vietnam which recorded export value of $30 billion in the first quarter of this year.

United States is still the main export market of textile products Indonesia. Its export reached 36 per cent followed by the EU with 14 per cent. Textile exports to the EU fell 20 per cent compared to that of last year.