Polls unlikely to affect probe on dumped cement imports

MANILA, Philippines — The Tariff Commission (TC) said its investigation on the merit of imposing definitive anti-dumping duty on cement imports from Vietnam would proceed even if the probe extends until the national elections in May.

TC chairperson Marilou Mendoza said based on the indicative timeline, the agency would be able to submit the final report on the case to the Department of Trade and Industry by April next year.

The TC started the probe last Dec. 9 to look into whether an anti-dumping duty should be imposed on cement imports from Vietnam, following an endorsement from the DTI.

The DTI has ordered the temporary imposition of anti-dumping duties on cement imports from Vietnam in the form of cash bond for four months, as it found some Vietnamese exporters are dumping cement in the country and causing injury to local makers of the same product.

Dumping occurs when a product is sold to an importer at a price lower than in the home market of the exporter.

DTI’s findings were based on its preliminary investigation on the petition for anti-dumping duty on cement imports from Vietnam filed by Republic Cement & Building Materials Inc., CEMEX Philippines Holdings Inc.’s subsidiaries Solid Cement Corp. and Apo Cement Corp., and Holcim Philippines Inc.

For Type 1 cement from Vietnam, the DTI ordered the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty ranging from $1.02 per metric ton (MT) to $10.53 per MT or 2.69 percent to 31.87 percent of the export price.

As for Type 1P cement imports from Vietnam, the temporary anti-dumping duty is from $1.16 per MT to $12.79 per MT or 3.80 percent to 29.20 percent of the export price.

Only Vietnamese exporters found to be dumping cement to the Philippines would be slapped with the anti-dumping duty.

As part of the TC’s probe, the parties would have to submit their position papers by Jan.11, next year.

The indicative schedule for the public hearing for the case is from March 7 to 11, 2022.

After the public hearing, parties will be given until March 21, 2022 to submit amended position papers, and until March 30, 2022 to give their comments on essential facts with supporting documents.

TC commissioner Ernesto Albano said the dates in the timeline could change depending on circumstances, which include requests by parties to extend deadlines.

In the same event, Napoleon Co of cement importer Cohaco Merchandising and Development Corp. asked that the collection of the cash bonds for the provisional anti-dumping duty be deferred while the investigation is ongoing.

He said if the investigation leads to a final decision that an anti-dumping duty on cement should not be imposed, the collected cash bonds would have to be refunded, which based on their experience is often met with problems.

Under the World Trade Organization Anti-Dumping Agreement, member countries may act against dumping if this is causing injury to the competing domestic industry.