Indonesian Shoe Manufacturers Appeal For Legislation To Promote Leather Production

The Indonesia Footwear Association has asked the government to encourage local and foreign investors to produce leather materials for shoemaking.

The president of the provincial branch of the Indonesian footwear Commission mentioned that if cheap leather raw materials were supplied by the country, rather than imported, the shoe factories in East Java could have the ability to produce products of high quality and low cost.

"Our products can not compete with cheap Chinese goods, because more than 50% of the leather materials are imported from Taiwan and China, which makes manufacturers have to raise the prices of their products."

He also appealed to the government to revise import policies and regulations.

Indonesia is the second largest footwear manufacturer in the world, before India, China.

Every year, East Java imports about 1000 tons of leather, ranging from 70 cents to 3 dollars per kilogram, producing one hundred and sixty-five million to two hundred million pairs of shoes.

Wang Xiaonan: editor in charge