Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry is tightening controls on imports of textiles and textile products to balance domestic supply with demand and protect local manufacturers from being undercut by a surge of foreign goods, a ministry spokesperson said Monday.
Ministry spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif said the restrictions are not intended to obstruct trade but to ensure that imported goods align with what the domestic market actually needs. “The principle is aimed at maintaining the supply-demand balance, matching domestic demand with domestic industry capacity,” Arif said. Read Here
He illustrated the approach with a simple formula: if domestic demand for downstream textile products totals 100 units while local manufacturers can supply 80, then imports should only be needed to cover the remaining 20 units. Uncontrolled imports beyond that threshold, he warned, risk flooding the domestic market and putting pressure on national producers already competing for the same demand.
Arif said the ministry would apply import-control instruments to preserve that balance and prevent incoming shipments from outpacing what domestic industry and demand can absorb. He added that if the Trade Ministry delegates the relevant policy tool to the Industry Ministry, it would be used specifically to avoid overburdening domestic production.
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Addressing concerns that the restrictions could extend to premium or luxury textile imports, Arif said the government continues to encourage consumers and businesses to opt for products that domestic manufacturers can already produce rather than defaulting to imported goods. He argued that purchasing domestically made products generates a larger economic multiplier than imports, since the value added, including company profits, tax revenue and manufacturing wages, stays within Indonesia.
“When we buy domestic products, we help citizens working in the domestic manufacturing industry support their families,” Arif said.
The tightened controls follow a broader push by Jakarta this year to bolster its industrial base, including plans for eight industrial priorities heading into 2027 and continued promotion of the textile sector’s export potential. Indonesian officials have repeatedly described the domestic textile and apparel industry as having room to grow, citing both its scale and its labor-intensive workforce as reasons to shield it from import surges.
The move places Indonesia among a growing number of textile-producing economies moving to protect domestic manufacturers from import pressure, as producers across Asia contend with overcapacity and intensifying price competition in global textile and apparel supply chains. Industry analysts say such measures are becoming more common as governments in the region try to shield labor-intensive sectors from cheaper imports while still meeting demand for products domestic factories cannot yet supply.