JAKARTA - The national footwear industry is able to show its capabilities in the global arena, by producing a variety of quality and innovative products. Throughout 2018, the footwear industry in Indonesia recorded a total production of 1.41 billion pairs of shoes, contributing 4.6 percent of the world's total shoe production.
"From these achievements, Indonesia ranks 4th as the footwear producer in the world after China, India and Vietnam. In addition, we are the 4th largest shoe consumer country with consumption of 886 million pairs of footwear," said the Director General of Small, Medium and Multifarious Industries (IKMA) of the Ministry of Industry Gati Wibawaningsih in Jakarta, Sunday (7/4).
Gati said that currently the number of footwear industries in Indonesia is 18,687 business units, which consist of 18,091 small-scale business units, then 441 medium-scale business units and 155 large-scale business units.
Previously, the Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto said that the footwear industry was one of the mainstay manufacturing sectors that was able to make a major contribution to the national economy. This is reflected in the growth of the leather industry group, leather goods and footwear which reached 9.42 percent in 2018, a significant increase compared to 2017 at around 2.22 percent. Last year's achievement exceeded national economic growth at 5.17 percent.
Airlangga is optimistic that there will be an increase in exports of national footwear products to US$ 6.5 billion in 2019 and to US$ 10 billion in the next four years. The Minister of Industry explained, the footwear industry was being prioritized because of its development as an export-oriented labor-intensive sector. (LM)