Textile and textile product exports contributed 22.38 percent of the country`s non-oil/non-gas exports and 14.45 percent of industrial product exports over the period, the ministry`s director of industrial and mining product exports, Hartojo Agus Tjahjono said here on Friday.
In the past five years, textile and textile product exports contributed 12.45 percent of the non-oil/non-gas exports and 14.81 percent of the industrial product exports annually, he said.

He said improving productivity, efficiency and competitiveness was a key to penetrating the increasingly competitive global market for textiles and textile products.

Hartojo Agus was here to present 75 sewing and embroidering machines worth Rp250 million from the ministry to small and medium enterpreneurs at Gayuhan village.

“This assistance is aimed at supporting SMEs to produce textile products of high quality,” he said.

The aid was symbolically handed over to Pacitan district head H Sujono.

“Making an efficient and optimum use of sewing and embroidering machines will help improve the quality of SMEs` products, increase their capacity and production which will eventually boost the nearby people`s economy,” he said.
(*)

COPYRIGHT © 2008

Antara

In Jakarta – Randy Salim
Tel 62 21) 5299-3259
rsalim1@worldbank.org

JAKARTA, July 15, 2008 – Indonesia’s strong commitment to reforms has improved policies and boosted trade performance, says a new World Bank database and ranking tool. World Trade Indicators 2008 – Benchmarking Policy and Performance, released today, shows that Indonesian trade restrictiveness was measured at 4.5 percent in 2006, lower than the East Asia and Pacific average of 4.9 percent and far lower than the middle-income country average of 8.7 percent.
In a global economy, Indonesia stands to benefit from continued liberalization of investment and trade-in-services. Recognizing this, the Indonesian government has passed a new law on investment and established transparent investment negative lists as well comprehensive program designed to harmonize tariff structures.

“Since the financial crisis Indonesia has harmonized and lowered tariffs, and is now experiencing sustained increases in trade volumes,” said Sjamsu Rahardja, Trade Economist at the World Bank’s Indonesia country office. “The next agenda will be harnessing service liberalization and associated regulatory reforms to allow for even larger benefits.”

The report also highlights the work ahead, especially the need to improve behind-the-border policies. Traders and businesses continue to face high costs due to corruption, a weak legal system, deteriorating infrastructure, inefficient tax and customs administration, rigid labor regulations, complex licensing and approval procedures, skill inadequacies, and a mushrooming of local “nuisance” taxes. However, recent initiatives including the National Single Window and electronic documents should shortly begin to address some of the problems.

Commenting on the World Trade Indicators, Mari Pangestu, Indonesia’s Trade Minister said the report provides “an impressive array of information that policymakers can use as a benchmark to measure their country’s progress, as well as its position with respect to other countries. It should provide a good basis for informed policy making, including negotiations, and thus provide much needed information for small and/or developing countries with limited resources to develop such a comprehensive database.”

According to the WTI, in 2007 Indonesia ranked 68 th out of 160, measured by real growth in trade and services, which, at 7.9 percent, is in line with the averages of its regional and income group comparators. Although Indonesia’s exports are dominated by commodities (oil and gas, coal, and palm oil), the country also has significant manufacturing exports and Indonesia’s exports are diversified regionally to include East and Southeast Asia, the European Union, and the United States.

By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

Korean Submarines type 209 and CN 235 of Indonesia

South Korea is nearing a $1-billion deal with Indonesia to trade two of its 1,300-ton attack submarines and related technology for eight Indonesian-built advanced maritime patrol aircraft, a military source said Monday.

Arms procurement officials from the two nations, which forged a “strategic partnership” in December 2006, will meet next week in Indonesia to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the proposed deal, the source said.
“The two sides have virtually finalized the deal, as Indonesia accepted our final proposal on June 12 when its vice defense chief was visiting,” the source privy to the deal told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

“As long as there are no other developments, the two sides will sign an MOU during the meeting to implement the project,” he said.

Unless the MOU is signed during the working-level talks, Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee will address the issue with his Indonesian counterpart when he visits Jakarta this month, he said.

Russia is also competing to sell its submarines to Indonesia by offering a package of weapons systems, including attack and transport helicopters, and armored vehicles, along with cash, he noted.

Under the “counter-purchase mechanism,” the source said, South Korea will export two Type-209 Changbogo-class submarines, built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in technical cooperation with Germany’s Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), and transfer related technology to Indonesia.

The diesel/electric propulsion sub, measuring 56 meters in length and 5.5 meters in width, can submerge to a depth up to 250 meters and has an underwater endurance of some 15 days. It has a surface speed of 11 knots and can cruise submerged at a speed of 22 knots. The sub can carry up to 33 sailors.

The Korean Navy operates nine Type-209 submarines armed with torpedoes and submarine-to-surface missiles. The per-unit price is more than $200 million.

In return, Indonesia’s arms manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) will deliver eight CN-235 aircraft for maritime patrol operations to Korea as part of offest contracts , the source said, adding the Korea Coast Guard will operate the aircraft.

The CN-235 is a medium-range twin-turbo-prop airplane, jointly developed by Indonesia and Spain, and is widely used by a number of foreign operators, such as the U.S. Coast Guard, Malaysia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates for maritime patrol, surveillance and troop transport.

The aircraft has a top cruising speed of 509 km/h and can operate at an altitude of 9,145m. It has a range of 5,000 km with maximum fuel and 2870 km with a 4,000-kg payload. A variant for maritime patrol costs some $25 million, said the source.

Korea purchased eight CN-235s for VIP and transport units in the early 2000s in a similar trade deal with Indonesia, which bought a squadron of Korea’s indigenous KT-1 Woongbi basic trainer jets and hundreds of military vehicles. The deal was worth $150 million.

The envisaged subs-for-aircraft deal is expected to help boost Korea’s defense industry further by resuscitating the production line for Changbogo-class submarines, another source said.

“I believe the deal would be mutually beneficial,” he said. “For Korea’s part, the submarine exports would not only help raise the low operational capacity of the country’s shipbuilders in the future, but also offer more chances to get more submarine contracts from Indonesia and other nations.”

In a move to boost bilateral cooperation in the defense industry, Former President Roh Moo-hyun and his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono, issued a joint declaration on “strategic partnership relationship” during a summit in December 2006.

The two leaders agreed to improve cooperation on defense-related technology transfer and joint development.

Last December, South Korea’s rolling stock maker Rotem agreed with Indonesia’s PT.PINDAD on the joint development and production of six-wheel-drive armored vehicles.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 01/26/2008 3:15 AM  |  Business

JAKARTA (JP): PT Semesta Citra Motorindo (SCM), the producer of Kanzen motorcycles, plans to export part of its engine production to Vietnam.

SCM chief commissioner Rini M.S. Soewandi said last week that Vietnamese buyers were committed to buying about 1,000 Kanzen motorcycle engines worth US$150,000 per month.

“”Vietnam’s demand for motorcycles reaches 1.2 million units while local production can only provide 400,000 units. The rest are supplied by China,”" Rini said as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

She was speaking to reporters following the signing of an agreement between SCM and PT Surya Sarana Utama for the distribution of Kanzen motorcycles in Yogyakarta. She added that Vietnam’s large market was promising as there was the potential for local motorcycle component producers to take advantage of it.

As an initial step, they would export engines, but over the next year they would start to export completely built up motorcycles, she added.

Rini, who owns a 60 percent stake in the company, said she felt optimistic that her company’s engines would be able to take advantage of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement, which comes fully into effect in 2002.

Under the AFTA scheme, tariffs on imports from within the Association of the Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) member countries should be lowered to between zero percent and 5 percent.

Rini said her company would start to supply the Vietnamese buyers through its plant in Karawang, West Java, which is now under construction. The new plant has the capacity to assemble about 3,000 motorcycles per month.

SCM, which uses the Kanzen brand name for its motorcycles, currently has the capacity to produce about 1,500 motorcyles per month.

Production capacity would be increased to 5,000 units per month by the end of this year, Rini said. (03)

Jakarta, July 25 – Indonesia’s largest listed plantation company, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, said on Friday its first-half net profit rose 134 percent from a year ago, supported by strong palm oil sales.

The firm, controlled by Indonesia’s top automotive distributor, PT Astra International Tbk, had previously reported a 20 percent increase in its crude palm oil (CPO) sales volume in the first half, paired with 58.9 percent rise in the average CPO price.

Astra Agro, which has a market capitalisation of nearly $3.5 billion, said in a statement that its January-June net profit climbed to 1.59 trillion rupiah ($174.3 million) from 682.5 billion a year ago.

Sales revenue rose 94.1 percent to 4.64 trillion rupiah.

Like many palm oil plantation companies in the region, Astra Agro is riding a boom in global palm oil due to demand from the biofuel industry and fast-growing China and India.

Palm oil–used in products from soaps to biodiesel– rallied to an all time high of 4,486 ringgit a tonne in March, although have since fallen back 31.5 percent.

Indonesia has overtaken Malaysia as the world’s top palm oil producer. It is expected to produce 18.4 mi