Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industry “Break” International Market

Jakarta, MINA – Indonesian furniture and craft industry “break” the international market through its various superior products which are considered to be a good quality and attractive designs.

“Indonesian furniture and craft industry is not only a business of the government, but also all parties from upstream to downstream,” said the Director General of Industry, Small, Medium and Multifarious (IKMA) Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih in Jakarta on Sunday.

Indonesian Ministry of Industry noted the furniture industry trade balance had a surplus in January 2019, with an export value of $113.36 million.

The value of exports rose 8.2 percent in December 2018. the value of national furniture exports penetrated to $1.69 billion, up to 4 percent compared to 2017.

Furthermore, the export value of national craft products in January-November 2018 reached $823 million, up from the same period of the previous year. The handicraft industry in Indonesia is quite large, with more than 700 thousand business units absorbing as many as 1.32 million people.

Gati hoped that the small and medium industries (IKM) maintains the quality of raw materials and their products and always innovate.

“What important things is how to serve buyers best, so they become loyal customers,” she said.

“We have 312 types of rattan species, which need to be utilized for the furniture and craft industries,” she said.

In addition, the source of wood raw materials is very large, considering the vast potential of forest land in Indonesia with a total of 120.6 million hectares, consisting of 12.8 million hectares of forest production.

In order to produce competitive products, the furniture and craft industries need to utilize the latest technology along with the implementation of the Making Indonesia 4.0 road map. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)