Textile machinery imports from Europe up 8 percent

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian's imports of textile machinery from European countries amounted to 30 million euros (around US$40 million) in 2006, an increase of 8 percent from the previous year, says the director of the German textile machinery association (VDMA).

"This increase is a very positive development for Indonesia. But it must be remembered that before the crisis, textile machinery imports to Indonesia from Europe reached 50 million to 60 million euros a year," T. Waldmann said in a presentation on the International Exhibition of Textile Machinery (ITMA), which will be held in Munich, Germany, from Sept. 13 to 20.

According to Waldmann, Indonesia, one of the largest textile exporters to the European and U.S. markets, imported knitting and spinning machines, mostly from Germany.

Germany holds the largest global textile-machinery market share of 30 percent, followed by Italy and Japan, each on 16 percent.

Indonesia needs to import a lot of textile machinery as the textile industry is currently in the process of reequipping.

Even though the country's textile machinery imports from Europe showed a substantial increase last year, their value was very small compared to the expected cost of Rp 43.91 trillion ($5 billion) for industry reequipping.

To support the reequipping program, the government has allocated Rp 255 billion to subsidize the interest on bank loans taken out by companies for the procurement of new machinery.

Obsolete machinery, most of which has been in use for more than 20 years, is one of the main problems facing the textile industry as it attempts to emerge from the doldrums.

Despite the problems, however, the industry remains one of country's largest foreign exchange earners in the non-oil and gas sector.

Exhibition director K. Hamma said that the upcoming Munich exhibition was expected to provide an opportunity for Indonesian textile firms to familiarize themselves with the latest machinery.

Textile machinery producers from all over the world would convene there to showcase their products.

Waldmann said that among the major German textile machinery companies that would take part in the exhibition were spinning machine manufacturers Truetzschler and Pico, knitting machine manufacturers Karl Mayer and Stoll, and finishing machine manufacturers Monforts and Nuesters.

Producers from Asia, including China and India, would also participate.

The last ITMA in 2003 was attended by 1,279 exhibitors and 125,500 visitors from around the world. This year, the committee expects around 1,400 exhibitors to attend.