In the first quarter of 2013 alone, import were expected to reach 35 million units , says director of electronic, telecommunication and informatics industry of the industry ministry C. Triharso said.
"You can imagine the size of imports until the end of the year," Triharso said here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the trade ministry`s import director Didi Sumedi said the size of imports show the potential of the hand phone market in the country .
He said the country is still entirely dependent on import for hand phones .
"There has been no producer that could meet the domestic requirement," he said, adding the trade ministry restricts hand phone import to protect the domestic market.
Many imported products of hand phone have negative effects on the users, he said, adding the "radiation is very high."
He said the trade ministry encourages Indonesian industrialists to produce local products to make use of the potential domestic market.
"We gain a lot by producing ourselves from the huge market and at the same time creating many jobs," he said.
He said the trade ministry offers incentives such as tax allowance and tax holiday for investment in hand phone industry.
(H-ASG/A014)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
