Director General of Small, Medium and Various Industries at the Industry Ministry, Gati Wibawaningsih, revealed that Indonesia’s footwear production ranks fourth in the world. 1.4 billion pairs have been produced in 2018 and contributing towards 4.6 percent of the global production.
“Indonesia ranks as the fourth largest shoes producer in the world after China, India, and Vietnam. As shoe consumers, we also rank fourth with 886 million pairs of footwear,” Gati said.
She further elaborated that the number of footwear factories in Indonesia currently stands at 18,687 units, consisting of 18,091 small-scale businesses, 144 medium-scale businesses, and 155 large-scale businesses. “These footwear businesses have employed 795,000 workers,” she added.
The Ministry also aims to develop the national footwear industry. They have come up with the Indonesia Footwear Creative Competition (IFCC) to provide opportunities for the younger generation to develop small to medium scale businesses. “IFCC is a 3-in-1 creative footwear competition covering design, photography, and videography,” Gati confirmed.
The event is initiated by the Indonesian Footwear Industry Development Center (BPIP) under the Directorate General of Small, Medium and Various Industries at the Industry Ministry. The centre, which is located in Sidoarjo, East Java, also provides services to improve the human resources, knowledge, and technology in the footwear industry.
Earlier, Industrial Minister Airlangga Hartarto explained that the footwear industry is one of the main manufacturing sectors, as it has greatly contributed to the national economy. “The national export of footwear increased by 4.13 percent in 2017 from US$4.91 billion to US$5.11 billion in 2018,” the minister noted. Airlangga also expressed his optimism that national footwear exports could increase from US$6.5 billion in 2019 to US$10 billion within the next four years.
Source: Antara News
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