The country's toy industry is facing not only problems left by the two years of crisis but also the ...

1. 2. EXPORTS OF TOYS IMPROVING.
The country's toy industry is facing not only problems left by the two years of crisis but also the need
to improve quality to be competitive in international market. Toy industry suffered a sharp decline in
sales on the domestic market because of declining buying power of the people and influx of imported
products. Local producers, therefore, were forced to seek to increase exports. The country has 80
producers of toys with a total annual capacity of 64.5 million dozen units. Some of the producers,
however, have collapsed during the crisis. Sources at the industry and trade ministry said toy
factories now are operating only at 52% of their capacity. In 1998, toy production still increased to
55.4 million dozen from 27.9 million dozen in 1995. But in 1999, the production hit the rock bottom
of 26.2 million dozen. The production is dominated by stuffed toys.
Table - 1 Indonesia's production of toys, 1995 - 1999
Production Growth
Year (000' dozens) (%)
1995 27,930 -
1996 40,640 45.5
1997 46,736 15.0
1998 55,380 15.6
1999 26,240 -52.6
Source: Department of Industry and Trade/Data Consult
The domestic toy market is now glutted with low quality imported products to meet demand from
consumers suffering a decline in buying power.
Basic materials determined by principals
Indonesia imports considerable quantity of basic materials for toys especially materials for feathered
toys such as dolls from the countries of principal companies including the UNited States, Japan and
Europe. The dependence is caused by the requirement to use materials determined by the principals
and the fact that the materials have not been produced or not sufficiently produced in the country.
The domestic producers, therefore, produce only on order from their principal.
Basic materials also come from countries having the international quality certificate such as the
quality standards of EN-71 in Europe and ESTM in the United States. The materials for dolls are
acrylic boa, polyester and cotton fibers. Other materials include polyethylene, polypropylene and
ABS. PT Asiana Multikreasi uses acrylic and polyester for its dolls. The materials for baby toys
generally include cotton veloa, poolyester veloa and terry towel, which has no feather and are not
hard.

2. Exports surging
After a decline exports of toys surged by 39.8% to 13,006 tons valued at US$ 63.5 million in 1999
from 9.344 tons valued at 80.4 million in 1998. Exports peaked at US$ 203.6 million in 1996. Based
on data at the industry and trade ministry, exports of toys in the first 4 months of this year rose
338% to US$ 128 million from only US$ 26.5 million in the same period last year. Exports were
dominated by stuffed toys accounting for 67% in volume and 82.9% in value.
Table - 2 Exports of toys by types, 1995 - 1999
Tons
(US$ '000)
Type of toys 1995 1996 1997
-Children's toys with 248 355 144
wheels 500 695 554
-Children's toys re- 4,292 7,198 2,261
sembling human being/ 39,418 63,541 21,175
dolls with accessories
-Stuffed toys 13,878 12,414 6,198
110,239 112,751 52,275
-Other children's 7,345 5,157 2,032
toy's (miniatures, 30,206 26,614 12,702
puzzles, etc)
Total 25,764 25,124 10,635
180,363 203,601 86,706
Tons
(US$ '000)
Type of toys 1998 1999
-Children's toys with 194 1,072
wheels 390 1,520
-Children's toys re- 334 688

3. sembling human being/ 1,883 4,447
dolls with accessories
-Stuffed toys 7,472 8,720
63,040 66,660
-Other children's 1,344 2,586
toy's (miniatures, 4,252 7,775
puzzles, etc)
Total 9,344 13,066
65,313 80,402
Source: CBS/Data Consult
United States, the largest market
Toys exports are sent mainly to advanced countries. The United States is the largest market for toys.
In 1999, exports to that country totaled 3,508 tons or 26.8% of the country's total exports. Other
major buyers include Germany (1,879 tons) and Britain (1,714 tons valued at US$ 25.4 million. See
the following table.
Table - 3 Toys exports by countries of destination, 1999
Country of Volume Value
destination (tons) (US$ '000)
U S A 3,508 22,467
Germany 1,879 13,604
England 1,714 11,787
Japan 779 5,861
Netherlands 561 4,328
France 316 1,916
Belgium 302 2,024
Singapore 236 1,374
Other countries 3,771 17,041

4. Total 13,066 80,402
Source: CBS/Data Consult
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