CRAFT WORKSHOPS — INDONESIA

The biggest order of the year is the one they turn down.

A carving workshop in Jepara gets an order for forty pieces. It is the largest they have been offered. They need eleven million rupiah of teak up front and they have three million. So they take an order for twelve pieces instead, or they say no, and the buyer goes to a workshop in another town that had the cash that week.

This is not a credit problem. The order exists, the buyer is real, and the money arrives on delivery. The gap is six weeks long and it costs Indonesian workshops their best customers.

One order, as the workshop sees it

  • Rp 26 jtOrder valueForty carved panels, delivered in six weeks.
  • Rp 11 jtTeak needed up frontBought before the first cut is made.
  • Rp 3 jtCash the workshop hasAfter last month's wages and the last order's materials.
  • 6 weeksUntil payment landsOn delivery, as it has always been.

The shortfall is eight million rupiah for six weeks. That is the entire problem.