2,000 furniture workers laid off

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/25/2009 9:47 PM  

Around 2,000 furniture workers were temporarily laid off following a 35 percent drop in furniture export volumes resulting from the global economic woes, tempointeraktif.com reports. 

Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Association (Asmindo) chairman Ambar Tjahyono on Wednesday said furniture and handicraft businesses were temporarily laying off workers until export volumes improved. 

“Among the workers, around 500 of them were from furniture companies in Yogyakarta,” Ambar said. The association had made efforts to prevent the industry being adversely affected by the downturn. 

“For instance, we will sell products to new destinations like Russia, the Middle East and Eastern European countries,” Ambar said. 

Businesses had also encountered difficulties in transferring funds from banks in Russia. 

“Until now, there are no regulations on funds transfers with Russia,” Ambar said. 

Asmindo has planted 200,000 teak trees in Yogyakarta and Central Java to provide enough raw material to serve the industry for the next 15 years. (ewd)