Facing rising production costs and declining domestic sales, Indonesian textile industry has laid off 6,000 workers so far this year. The rise in the production costs has been attributed to electricity and gas tariff increases and the rise in workers’ health insurance premium tariff, which must be paid by the companies. The sector originally employed 1.5 million workers. Indonesia Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat commented on the development saying that this figure is a tip of the iceberg. “Such a number only comes from textile companies in Bandung [West Java]. If textile companies in Central Java and East Java are to be included, the number of workers fired could reach in the tens of thousands,” Ade said.
