CRAFT INDUSTRY PILLAR OF PEOPLE'S ECONOMY

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 30 (Antara) - The government continues to facilitate the development of the country's craft industry which serves as the backbone of folk economy and is resilient against economic crisis.          Director General of Small and Medium Industry of the Ministry of Industry Gati Wibawaningsih said that craft industry is the spearhead of folk economy that is unaffected by global crisis.          At a time when financial crisis hits many countries in the world, the national craft products remain strong, saleable and firm as the largest commodity contributor to Indonesia's exports.          Importers  and other buyers of national craft products come from various circles both at home and abroad. "They appreciate the added values of craft goods produced by small and cottage industry  as products that have arts, culture and history aspects," said Wibawaningsih.          Based on the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) in 2015, the number of small and medium industries under  the Directorate General of Small and Medium Scale Industry of the Ministry of Industry, reached 695 thousand business units. These small industries produce would-based products; wood and cork goods (not including furniture); and wicker goods made of rattan, bamboo and the like.

APP LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE CRAFT PRODUCTS ONLINE

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 30 (Antara) - Indonesia continues to advance its cottage industry, yet it still needs to further improve the quality of its craft products and intensively promote them to win the market, both at home and abroad.         Hence, the National Crafts Council (Dekranas) is organizing a five-day annual crafts exhibition titled 'Kriyanusa 2017 Exhibition' to help handicraftsmen promote their products and improve their welfare.          Along with the exhibition, the Dekranas has also launched an application system to help handicraftsmen promote their products online through the cyber world or the Internet.          "It is expected that the exhibition will not

KRIYANUSA 2017 SHOWCASES INDONESIA'S CRAFT PRODUCTS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 27 (Antara) - Indonesia is rich handicraft products and needs to unite and improve its artisans' quality so that their products could compete and win in the global market.         The variety and richness of Indonesia's handicraft products are being exhibited at the Kriyanusa Exhibition 2017, which will be held for five days in Jakarta.         The exhibition, which is held from Sept 27 to Oct 1, is themed "Enhancing Creativity of Indonesia's Young Craft Entrepreneurs."    Chairperson of the National Crafts Council (Dekranas), Mufidah Jusuf Kalla, stated that the improvement in quality of human resources is one effort to increase the competitiveness of handicraft products.         "Efforts to improve the competitiveness of craft products in Indonesia, through the improvement of creativity, still needs to be maintained," Mufidah noted in a speech at the opening of Craft Nusantara Exhibition (Kriyanusa) at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.          Indonesian handicraft products can compete in foreign countries, but the competition in the global market, especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market, would be tougher.

RI NEEDS TO EXPAND MARKET FOR HANDICRAFT PRODUCT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 21 (ANTARA) - Indonesia has planned to expand its export markets in a bid to leverage a rising trend in the production of local handicrafts and in order to focus on exporting to markets other than the United States and the European Union.          "We need a breakthrough to increase exports by expanding our markets to the members of ASEAN and Asia such as China and India," said Ambar Tjahyono, chairman of the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Industry Association (Asmindo) on Friday.          Asmindo, which has set a 10 percent export increase at US$2 billion this year, needs to expand its exports to Asia and ASEAN to overcome gloomy markets in the United States and Europe that are still experiencing economic turmoil.         Indonesia's furniture exports to the United States and Europe accounted for 25 percent and 35 percent of the total exports respectively.  Ambar had previously said that Indonesia should avoid exporting to a number of countries in the midst of the economic crisis because it could disadvantage Indonesian businesses.          He said that Indonesia should, thus reorient its outlook on newer market destinations.          "We are targeting 15 provinces in China for our furniture and handicraft products at present," he claimed.           The volumes of Asmindo exports to a number of ASEAN countries in 2011 stood at US$77.328 million, the biggest of which were contributed by exports to Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.          Last year, Indonesia's handicraft exports (excluding furniture) increased by 8 percent to US$800 million. "Indonesia's handicraft exports in 2011 rose by 8 percent to US$800 million when compared to the numbers seen in 2010," said Anshari Bukhari, the secretary general of the Ministry of Industry meanwhile.     In a step towards developing the industry¿s potential, the government has given a priority to the development of labor intensive handicraft businesses, most of which are cottage industries that significantly contribute to foreign exchange of the country.          Home industry is the prime driver of the country's regional economies and plays a big role in creating new entrepreneurs, absorbing new workers and contributing to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), particularly in the creative economic sector.          "Cottage industry is successful because it is able to increase its own production capacity. Therefore, Indonesia has the big potential to develop its home industry. After all, it is rich in local culture and heritage which will enable it to produce cultural handicraft products," added Director General Anshari.          In order to develop this creative industrial sector in a globalized world, the ministry of industry seeks to cooperate and establish a strategic alliance with industrial players to revitalize and increase the capacity of the creative industry while creating new entrepreneurs.          "The ability to be creative by creating good designs for products is decisive to increasing the competitive edge of our products. In order to win against the domestic and world market competition, business players must be able to produce goods in line with the demand trend," explained the secretary general of the ministry of industry.          The director general is convinced that cottage industry can develop and compete in the market. Moreover, handicraft industry is able to increase its own production capacity.  Most businesses can develop themselves without bank credits.          Yunita Resmi Sari, the deputy director for research and banking regulation affairs of Bank Indonesia (BI) or the central bank, said that the ability to finance cottage industry was relatively high at present. The industry has high liquidity while the borrowing cost for asset financing is low. Its ability to repay debts is also high, she said.          Even, according to Yunita, about 54.9 percent house-hold (industry) respondents surveyed did not take credits from banks while 45.1 percent had borrowed money," she said.          She cited a BI survey on household and cottage business in 2011 carried out on 4,095 respondents in 10 different regions of the country. Low-income people with an annual income of Rp20 million accounted for 22.1 percent, middle-class people with incomes between Rp20 million and Rp65 million stood at 60.9 percent and the remaining percentage made the high income bracket with an annual earning of Rp65 million or over.          "Of the respondents, some 51.8 percent have no savings in banks while those who have money at banks accounted for 48.1 percent. About 54.9 percent of respondents did not borrow money from banks while 45.1 percent had borrowed money," she said.          According to Yunita, most of those (24.1 percent) people who borrowed money, obtained funds from non-financial institutions, 19 percent from banks and 16.04 percent from non-bank financial institutions," she said.          Yunita explained that in 2011 about 29.51 percent of banking credits by cottage industry were used for business capital, 19.95 percent for consumption, 18.51 percent for purchasing vehicles, 8.32 percent for education, 3.84 percent for health and 8.88 percent for others.          In order to develop home industry, Director General Anshori stressed the importance for home industrial businessmen to establish information networks on local resources that could be used by handicraftsmen to develop their business such as natural and cultural resources.         Besides, promotion of products is also necessary so that handicraft products would become popular both in the domestic and international markets.          For this purpose, Indonesia will hold an International Furniture and Craft Fair Indonesia (IFFINA) in Jakarta to start on March 11 next year. The sixth annual fair is expected to draw 3,500 buyers both from Indonesia and from foreign shores, said the Asmindo chairman for Jepara chapter.         The number is larger than this year's 3,000 buyers, chairman of the Jepara chapter of the association  Akhmad Fauzi added. Next year's fair will occupy a location of 20,000 sq. m of land including 2,600 sq. m for Jepara furniture, Akhmad said.          Foreign furniture producers are also expected to take part in the fair, he said.          The fair will serve to prepare for  similar fairs scheduled to be held abroad in a number of countries, such as   Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines  and China,   Europe and the United States.***2*** (T.A014/INE/o001) 21-07-2012 14:08:13