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Philippines: Tariff body starts probe on cement imports from Vietnam
MANILA, Philippines — The Tariff Commission (TC) has started its probe into the merits of imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on cement imports from Vietnam.
In a notice, the TC said it commenced the formal investigation on Dec.9 after it received a request from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the complete case records.
A preliminary conference will be held on Dec. 20 as part of the TC’s probe.
“Matters for discussion include the timelines, nature of investigation, appearance of counsel and parties, number of witnesses, notification, accessibility of documents and public file, confidentiality of documents, submission of position papers and memoranda, conduct of inspection and verification of data, schedule of public hearings and other activities, and other topics that may add in the prompt disposition of the case,” TC said.
The DTI has ordered temporary anti-dumping duties on cement imports from Vietnam in the form of cash bond for four months, as it found nine out of 16 Vietnamese exporters of Type 1 cement and four out of 12 exporters of Type 1P cement from Vietnam are dumping cement in the country, hurting local manufacturers of the same product.
Provisional anti-dumping duties for Type 1 cement from Vietnam range from $1.02 per metric ton (MT) to $10.53 per MT or 2.69 percent to 31.87 percent of the export price.
Meanwhile, the computed dumping margin or amount of bond for Type 1P cement imports from Vietnam is from $1.16 per MT to $12.79 per MT or 3.80 percent to 29.20 percent of the export price.
These anti-dumping duties will apply only to specific Vietnamese exporters found to be dumping cement to the Philippines.
The provisional anti-dumping duties are estimated to add P2.01 to P25.08 to the import cost of a 40-kilogram bag of cement, but the DTI said earlier these are not likely to be passed on to consumers, as any price increase in imported cement would be discouraged by competition from domestic producers.
DTI’s move to slap temporary anti-dumping duties follows an evaluation of the petition filed by Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc., Cemex Philippines Holdings Inc.’s subsidiaries Solid Cement Corp. and Apo Cement Corp., and Holcim Philippines Inc.
DTI found that during the investigation period covering July 2019 to December 2020, dumped cement imports from Vietnam accounted for 55 percent of total Philippine imports.
Cement imports from Vietnam also account for nearly 90 percent of cement being brought in to the Philippines from overseas.
Dumping is a situation where a product is sold to an importer at a price lower than in the home market of the exporter.
Under the World Trade Organization Anti-Dumping Agreement, member countries may act against dumping if such is causing injury or threatening to hurt the competing domestic industry.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/12/13/2147528/tariff-body-starts-probe-cement-imports-vietnam