Heaptalk, Jakarta — The Indonesian government will soon revise Trade Minister Regulation (Permendag) No. 8 of 2024 on Import Policies and Regulations through the Ministry of Industry. This regulation has sparked protests from domestic textile industry players and impacted Indonesia’s manufacturing sector.
“The primary focus is revising Permendag 8, which a technical team will discuss,” said Eko S.A. Cahyanto, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Industry, at the Four Seasons Hotel in South Jakarta on Sunday (11/03).
A special team involving technical staff from the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry will oversee the revision process. “Yes, this will be facilitated by a technical team from industry and trade,” he added.
The Ministry of Industry also highlighted the impact of Trade Regulation No. 8/2024 on the manufacturing sector, citing Indonesia’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which showed a contraction at 49.2 in October 2024. “Although the PMI remained unchanged from September, it extended the contraction for Indonesia’s manufacturing sector to four consecutive months,” noted Ministry of Industry spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arif.
The regulation’s issues include a lack of technical consideration for imports. The Trade Ministerial Regulation No. 8/2024 does not require technical assessments or recommendations for importing finished goods into Indonesia. This provision has opened the door to widespread imports of textiles and textile products, especially finished goods.
Another issue is that the regulation increases imports of finished goods. The regulation has facilitated an influx of imported goods. “Of the 518 HS codes for commodity groups whose imports were relaxed in this policy, almost the majority, namely 88.42% or 458 commodities, are harmonized system (HS) codes for finished goods that can be produced by domestic industry,” Febri concluded.
