Garment manufacturer PT Pan Brothers is eyeing an opportunity to export its personal protective equipment (PPE) to regions such as the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa following the issuance of permits by the government.
Vice president director Anne Patricia Sutanto said on Wednesday the company was planning to export the PPE to several countries in those regions including the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Singapore and South Africa.
“We expect to start the exports in September as we’ve already received permission to export the PPE from the government,” she said during a virtual press briefing.
She went on to say that the publicly listed company currently produced about 3 million to 5 million items of PPE per annum but it could increase the production to its maximum capacity of 10 million PPE items.
The Trade Ministry in June lifted an export ban on PPE amid an oversupply in national production and allowed manufacturers to export surgical masks, N-95 masks, coveralls, surgical gowns and raw materials to make face masks.
Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto expected the decision could spur national economic growth, particularly for manufacturing, and improve Indonesia’s export performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other than expanding PPE sales overseas, Anne said the company was also planning to expand its partnerships with existing clients.
“Currently, we only supply performance wear for our client, Adidas. Going forward, we aim to also supply garments for lifestyle wear so that we can provide a complete supply chain solution for them,” she said.
The company plans to expand its production capacity to 130 million garment pieces annually by 2021 from the current 117 million through automation and digitalization in all of its factories spread across the country. It expects that these efforts will increase output and maintain consistent quality for its products.
The company has allocated US$10 million to $15 million of funding this year to support the expansion plan.
“The funds will be used to upgrade our machinery, as well as to fund our automation and digitalization efforts in all of our factories,” said Anne.
Despite experiencing flat growth in garment demand from its global brand clients, which contribute around 90 percent of its sales, Pan Brothers still managed to book double-digit growth in its top line in the first half of this year.
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