Batik industry to grow 20% this year: Ministry

The government’s 2011 revenue projections for the domestic batik industry call for a 20 percent rise to Rp 879.2 billion (US$103.74 million), up from Rp 732.67 billion last year, a top official says.
The Industry Ministry’s director general for small- and medium-sized industries, Euis Saedah, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the projected growth for batik was higher than the 13 percent increase recorded in 2010. Last year, the industry’s total revenue jumped to Rp 732.57 billion from Rp 648.94 billion in 2009.
“The growth projection was made on the grounds of the multitudes of national- and international-scale events promoting batik in Jakarta this year,” she said after the opening of the 4th Batik Cultural Heritage Expo at the ministry.
Apart from the expo, she also cited the recent Jakarta International Handicraft Trade Fair (Inacraft), Adi Wastra Nusantara traditional fabric fair, Jakarta Interior and Craft Exhibition (ICRA) and the upcoming World Batik Summit in September as examples.
This year’s Inacraft was held on April 20-24, the Adi Wastra Nusantara fair on June 15-19 and the ICRA on July 27-31. All three events were held at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
The upcoming World Batik Summit will be held from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, also at the JCC.
Euis also cited high batik demand from foreign markets such as Thailand and Malaysia as possible contributors to the growth projections.
“We have already talked to representatives from the two countries about the possibility of them sending alternative textile materials here to be used as raw materials in our batik industry,” she said, adding that talks of batik promotional cooperation with the two countries were still in progress.
“Seeing all these developments, I do believe that 20 percent growth this year will be achievable,” Euis said, adding that last year’s 13 percent growth was achieved with far less promotional effort.
Industry Minister MS Hidayat said that the domestic batik industry faced three major problems: human resources, low raw material supply and poor soft skill education.
“There is a lack of regeneration in the batik industry, with many craftspeople already in their old age,” Hidayat told reporters at the ministry.
He said that many young people in batik-producing regions were more interested in other jobs, as they deemed batik-crafting an unpromising career.
Many craftspeople also chose to work at batik printing companies overseas in countries such as China, he said.
“We are currently working with the Indonesian Batik Foundation to discuss how to resolve this problem and to generate greater interest among the young people living in batik-producing regions to work in the industry,” he said.
Regarding the raw material shortage, Hidayat said the local batik industry had a low supply of gondorukem, a material processed from pine resin and used as a mixture in the wax to produce batik motifs.
Hidayat said that large quantities of high-quality gondorukem (gum rosin) was exported to foreign markets.
“The ministry is in talks with state forestry firm PT Perhutani, which produces the material, to suggest that they prioritize domestic demands before exporting the material,” he said.
He said that the ministry was also working with the National Education Ministry to jointly provide soft skill educational programming in the country’s many batik-producing regions. “This way, we can teach the younger generations in batik producing regions the necessary knowledge and skills to produce high-quality batik crafts,” he added. (mim)