RATTAN BUSINESSES COMPLAIN OF GLOOMY PROSPECT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 26 (ANTARA) - Domestic rattan farmers and businesses which once have a glorious era in the past, are now complaining of gloomy prospect as demand for rattan-based products had been declining, causing more than 50 percent of rattan industries at home to close down over the past two years.          This condition has raised concern that the sustainability of the country's rattan business could not be maintained if the government fails to adopt a proper policy regarding the country's rattan potentials.          "The lack of a well-planned policy on rattan exports and the decline in demands for rattan products in the domestic and world markets are threatening the sustainability of rattan business in the country,"  Chairman of the Indonesian Rattan Business Foundation (YRI) Lisman Sumardjani said on Sunday.          Since 2007, the performance of the local rattan industries had begun to slow down and their number had been declining.  In addition, the trade minister's decree No. 36/ 2009 on rattan export restriction which came into effect as of August 11, 2009 was seen by Lisman as something which could not bridge the interest between the farmers and rattan furniture industries.          "The export restriction is actually also restricting the  farmers' rattan business,  because they could not sell their products to furniture industries which were not required to purchase the farmers' rattan," Lisman said last year.          In the meantime,  demand for rattan-based products has been declining. Lisman said on Sunday the decline in demands for rattan made products was among others caused  by the fact that most consumers began to turn to imitation rattan goods.          Actually, he said,   world demand for rattan-based furniture and rattan-made handicraft products are relatively high, where in 2008 and 2009 reached around US$100 and US$104 billion.          Of the total market share, Indonesian rattan-based products could only reach  2.6 billion dollars in 2008 and 2.3 billion dollars in 2009.  "This indicates that the market for rattan-based products was virtually wide open. We need to take advantage of the available market," he said.          He said that the absorption capacity of the domestic market for locally made rattan products was only about 30,000 - 40,000 tons this year, or about 50 percent of the country's production capacity of 696,000 tons.           Lisaman said that the government so far had no well-directed policy about the rattan business. It only often changed its export regulations. And what happened was a disruption of the growth of rattan-processing industries.          If in 2007 the number of rattan-processing industries reached 614 units, in 2008 it dropped to 234, because the declining rattan consumption at home and the banning of raw rattan exports had affected 2.3 million rattan collector farmers.          "Rattan which was formerly a reliable source of living of the locals could no longer be expected to become a source to live on," he said.          He said that in a condition where certain types and volumes of rattan exports had been restricted, the value of rattan exports could only reach 240 million US dollars while in a condition where rattan exports were not restricted the value could reach 1.53 billion dollars. This is based on the figure of exports in the 1990-2004.          With the gloomy prospect, Lisman expressed concern that rattan at home is now facing rapid extinction. He said that the sustainability of rattan could be maintained if world consumers continued to need rattan and its by-products, including rattan-based furniture, and this would benefit local rattan farmers.          "Farmers will gather rattan only if rattan industries at home grow and develop well. Without all these, the story about Indonesia's rattan potential which controls 85 percent of the world market would remain only as a story," he said.          According to Lisman, if managed well, Indonesia's rattan potentials could earn an annual income of  4 billion dollars a year  and could provide jobs for about 5 million people.          Therefore, Lisman asked the government to provide political support in order to revive the demand for processed rattan products. "Besides, all the nation's components should take part in promoting the use of rattan products, such as successful promotion of the use of 'batik'," he said.         Deputy Chief Economic Minister for Industry and Trade Coordination Edy Putra Irawady supported the appeal of the YRI chairman, saying that government agencies should help promote and use rattan furniture.         Edy concurred with Lisman that the sustainability of rattan in the country would face rapid extinction if all parties failed to promote rattan products. Moreover at least 2.3 million poor rattan farmers and rattan collectors earned a living from this sector.          According to Lisman, rattan farmers are the most disadvantaged party with the present condition of rattan business in the country.         He said the government's latest decision on rattan export restriction failed to encourage rattan farmers to help maintain sustainable rattan cultivation.         "It is true if the government has to guarantee rattan stocks for the rattan industry at home but it must also guarantee that rattan farmers would be able to market their rattan products and reap reasonable profit," Lisman said recently.          He said that the government has issued a policy which restricted rattan exports to meet local industries' needs for raw rattan but the furniture industries were not required to purchase the  farmers' rattan.          The trade minister's decree No. 36/ 2009 on rattan export restriction which came into effect as of August 11, 2009 did not bridge the interest between farmers and rattan furniture industries, he said.          He said that the export restriction is actually also restricting the  farmers' rattan because they could not sell their products to the furniture industries which were not required to purchase the farmers' rattan. This would discourage the farmers to preserve the continuity of rattan plantations, threatening the sustainability of the country's rattan industry.           "Farmers are in the front line in the cultivation of rattan that would eventually guarantee the sustainability of rattan in the country. If farmers and locals near forests do not gain benefit from it, they would not help preserve rattan cultivation," he said. (T.A014/a/H-NG/a/o001 ) 26-07-2010 14:54:4