Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Industry Ministry is holding the 2022 Leather Shoes and Fashion Exhibition at Plasa Perindustrian, Jakarta, from September 6–9 to promote leather, finished leather goods, and footwear and conduct business matching.

"The 2022 Leather Shoes and Fashion Exhibition is the right (platform) to bridge business actors with their fellow business players (business-to-business or B2B) and business actors and consumers (business-to-consumer or B2C),” secretary general of the ministry, Dody Widodo, said here on Tuesday.

The event aims to increase the absorption of domestic leather, finished leather goods, and footwear products, he added.

The leather, finished leather goods, and footwear industry grew by 13.12 percent in the second half of 2022, driven by high export demand, a better investment attractiveness index, and the transfer of product orders from several global brands to Indonesian fashion industry players, he informed.

The absorption of leather, finished leather goods, and footwear products grew by 84.49 percent in July 2022 compared to the same period before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the export value of leather, finished leather goods, and footwear products reached US$4.62 billion as of June 2022, an increase of 41.26 percent compared to US$3.26 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

"The exhibition is a concrete attempt taken by the government along with business players to increase the promotion and dissemination of information about the capabilities of the domestic shoe, leather and leather goods, as well as apparel industries, thus it (the exhibition) can increase the competitiveness of these products," the secretary general said.

Forty-seven booths have been set up at the event, consisting of 15 footwear industry companies, 18 leather goods manufacturing companies, 5 tanning industry companies, 4 glove industry companies, 4 apparel industry companies, and a footwear industry company.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Indonesian Tanning Industry Association (APKI) and the Indonesian Footwear Industry Association (Aprisindo) to strengthen synergy and the supply of leather raw materials for the footwear industry from the national tanning industry.

“Imagine every single Indonesian wearing locally made shoes. Thus, there will be 200 million people who use domestic-manufactured shoes," the official added.