JAKARTA, July 31 (Reuters) - U.S. sportswear maker Nike Inc. has offered to delay severing contracts with two Indonesian shoe firms employing 14,000 people, a Nike executive said on Tuesday.

The head of the local firm said separately that the offer had been accepted, but was waiting for approval from Nike.

Nike had said earlier in July it would cease taking orders at the factories owned by Central Cipta Murdaya (CCM) -- PT Hardaya Aneka Shoes Industry (HASI) and Nagasakti Paramashoes Industry (NASA) -- at the end of 2007.

The decision, which Nike said it made after the firms failed to meet its standards, sparked street protests by thousands of employees from both factories.

In a statement sent to Reuters on Tuesday, Nike repeated its commitment to keep Indonesia as one of its top sourcing countries and said it would extend the contracts with the two companies provided they made a firm commitment to improve performance.

"We are committed to reaching a reasonable agreement with CCM on our exit from HASI and NASA. We have offered to continue production at HASI through July 2008 and at NASA through July 2009," Eric Sprunk, Nike's vice president of Global Footwear, said in a statement.

"In addition, we have offered a level of production higher than is currently in each factory and committed to keeping the same type of production and product mix that is currently in both factories," he added.

Nike subcontracts to 38 factories in Indonesia employing 115,000 staff and around a fifth of its shoes were made in the Southeast Asian country in 2006.

Separately, Erin Dobson, Nike's director in charge of corporate social responsibility communications, told Reuters in an email the two contractors would have until Wednesday to decide whether to accept Nike's terms.

Siti Hartati Murdaya, president director and owner of CCM, said the firm had accepted the offer, which came after talks with Nike and government officials.

"My son signed a draft of the offer and now we are waiting for Nike to approve the deal," Murdaya said by telephone.

She said many details needed to be sorted out first before production could resume.

"We don't want anything to jeopardise our manufacturing standards in our last months working with Nike."

(Additional Reporting by Adhityani Arga)