Rupiah Depreciation Becomes Opportunity for Furniture Industry to Boost Performance

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - The weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar has caused some industrial sectors to be hit. But not so with the country furniture industry, this industry actually gets fresh air from the exchange rate depreciation.

"Most of the orientation of business actors is exports. As many as 80 percent of raw materials are obtained from local," said Secretary General (Secretary General) of the Association of Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industries (HIMKI), Abdul Sobur in Jakarta, Friday (09/09/2018).

The momentum will actually be used to boost furniture performance in order to meet export targets until the end of the year, namely, US $ 2 billion for furniture and US $ 850 million for handicrafts.

During January to June 2018, furniture and handicraft exports were able to reach US $ 1.3 billion or grew 9 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

"But that is not an advantage in our plan because it is only obtained from foreign exchange differences. Not from the increase in production capacity," said Sobur.

Sobur revealed that there was no problem with the policy of limiting importation by the government. Provided that the restricted product is not a supporting material product that is not found domestically.

"In essence, if you want to take a policy, the government must have a careful calculation, then socialize it. Because, without socialization with relevant stakeholders, it can actually trigger a decline in exports or even make export companies leave," he said.