Winced in 2017, Sheet Glass Industry Expect Government to Consistent in the Next Year

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, sheet glass industry in 2017 experiencing a situation that can be considered horrible. Because the sheet glass industry is still struggling to survive with the competitiveness of the weakened.

Added to this, production in 2017 declined, as at the end of the first quarter of 2017 (one) the stove ceased production earlier than its technical age.

"Glass sheet industry throughout the year 2017 Hard to survive as they can," said Chairman of the Association of Glass Sheet and Safety (AKLP) Yustinus Gunawan when contacted INDUSTRY.co.id in Jakarta, Friday (29/12/2017).

He added that the flood of imported products coming into Indonesia has resulted in the difficulty of the domestic glass industry to compete.

"The flood of imported products is increasingly making domestic glass manufacturers squeezed, difficult to grow and compete with imported products," he explained.

Yustinus hopes the government seeks to export value-added glass products such as safety glass for motor vehicles and buildings, mirrored glass. "Thus the national glass industry will grow and be highly competitive," he added.

In addition, Yustinus added, sheet and safety glass industries are awaiting the decline in gas prices to push higher production costs.

He regretted that the government's slow progress to resolve the gas price issue has claimed one of Indonesia's largest glass factories (PT Tossa Shakti) due to high gas prices. "For us gas prices are very important and precarious," he said.

According to him, for the glass industry the price of gas determines the efficiency because it accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of the total production cost. With the cessation of one factory in Central Java (PT Tossa Shankti), the national glass production capacity drops to 1.225 million tons per year from the previous approximately 1.5 million tons per year.

Justin continued, there are currently only three glass sheet factories in Indonesia. And some factories are now importers. "They are doing it to keep their finances afloat to support their human resources," he said.

Therefore, he continued, in the coming political years, the sheet glass industry expects the active role and government's effort to maintain a conducive atmosphere to avoid the counter-productive furor.

"Meanwhile, we remain convinced the President is consistent to pay off his promise in Presidential Decree No 40 of 2016 related to the decline in gas prices for industry," he concluded.