Jakarta – Indonesian furniture makers are reportedly closing down their businesses because the local rattan industry prefers to export its products to China rather than sell them domestically.

Indonesian Rattan Furniture and Craft Association (AMKRI) chairman Hatta Sinatra said on Friday in Jakarta that only about 17 percent of the local furniture producers that had existed several years ago still operated today.

"Many of those furniture businesses went bankrupt because of raw material shortages," Hatta told the press Friday in Jakarta. "Now, only 17 percent of them are still there, and they're struggling to survive. This is sad," he added, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Hatta said that most of the furniture makers had moved to other businesses.