Indonesia plans to ease licensing procedures to import raw materials as its manufacturing sector is witnessing the impact of supply chain disruption from China caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Simplifying import procedures for raw materials would be one of the strategic measures to cope with the impact, finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said recently. Five hundred companies were being considered to receive special permits to allow them to import raw materials from sources other than China, the minister said. The raw materials imported by the 500 companies account for two-fifths of the country’s total raw material imports, according to a news agency report. The disruption to the supply of raw materials from China, especially for plastic, textile, footwear, steel and chemical products, has severely hurt the domestic industry, Indrawati added.
