The Textile Branch of the Islamic Students Alumni Association (KAHMI Textile) is officially demanding full transparency regarding the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Pan Brothers and Raven within the framework of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART). This demand, voiced by Executive Director Agus Riyanto, aims to ensure that the materials to be imported are strictly shredded rags and not secondhand finished clothing. Agus emphasized that the distinction is clearly defined in the Indonesian Customs Tariff Book, where worn clothing falls under HS 6309, while shredded materials or rags are classified under HS 6310. He argued that transparency is essential to prevent the domestic market from being flooded with used clothes under the guise of industrial raw materials, which would ultimately devastate small-scale local industries just so specific companies can secure a 0% export tariff.
Drawing a comparison to regional competitors, Agus noted that Bangladesh recently reached a similar agreement with the United States but specifically limited their imports to cotton, excluding worn clothing entirely. Following that deal, the Bangladeshi textile industry immediately shifted its cotton sourcing from India to the U.S., a move that Agus believes demonstrates a superior understanding of industrial integration. This stands in contrast to the views of Redma Gita Wirawasta, Chairman of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI), who previously stated that the agreement could help boost national textile industry utilization, which currently sits below 50%. While Redma remains somewhat pessimistic, he suggested that the government must seriously control the importation of yarn and fabric to allow the upstream and midstream sectors to recover from the pressure of cheap dumped goods and illegal imports.
However, Agus argued that the decision to import worn clothing is merely a "shortcut" taken by the garment sector, spearheaded by Pan Brothers, to mask the government's failure in strengthening the national textile ecosystem. He maintained that the focus should be on importing raw materials that cannot be produced domestically, such as cotton, which would naturally increase utilization across the entire chain—from spinning and weaving to dyeing and garment production. According to Agus, the downstream sector has shown a lack of concern for this integrated ecosystem, often seeking easy import facilities for yarn and fabric while opposing the anti-dumping and safeguard measures that protect upstream industries. He suggested that because the downstream sector still prefers cheap Chinese fabrics over increased U.S. cotton imports, they opted for the shortcut of importing worn clothing to satisfy trade requirements.
Beyond policy concerns, KAHMI Textile also questioned the technical feasibility of processing USD 200 million worth of shredded clothing waste. Agus pointed out that Indonesia’s current recycling technology is largely limited to physical recycling of pre-consumer garment scraps, rather than post-consumer shredded waste. He warned that the existing domestic capacity is nowhere near sufficient to handle such a massive volume of waste. In light of these issues, KAHMI Textile is calling on all stakeholders to sit down together as equals to discuss the sustainability of the national textile industry. Agus concluded by urging the government to listen more clearly to the voices on the ground rather than pushing through regulations that might offer short-term political satisfaction but result in long-term damage to the industrial ecosystem.
