DTI probes anti-dumping on Thai gypsum boards

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has initiated an investigation into  the application of anti-dumping duties on gypsum board imports for Thailand.

In a report, the DTI said it received an application for an anti-dumping investigation from Knauf Gypsum Philippines Inc. (KGPI), alleging that imports of gypsum board originating from Thailand are being dumped and is causing injury to the domestic industry.

“On 24 November 2023, after determining that the application is properly documented, the DTI accepted the application,” the DTI said.

Based on its decision dated Nov. 29, the DTI said it found basis to initiate a preliminary anti-dumping investigation on gypsum board imported from Thailand.

KGPI, is primarily engaged in the business of manufacturing, production, subcontracting, export, import, purchase, sale and distribution of gypsum-based building materials, specifically plasterboards, such as lightweight performance standard core boards, fire resistant boards, moisture resistant boards, impact resistant boards, sound resistant boards, combination with the performance boards, among others. It is the only manufacturer of gypsum in the country.

Based on the report, the domestic gypsum board industry alleged that gypsum board is being imported from Thailand at dumped prices.

“There was a substantial margin of dumping of gypsum board from Thailand for the period January to December 2022 based on the domestic wholesale and export prices as gathered by the gypsum board industry,” the DTI said.

It added that the industry claimed that the dumped imports of gypsum board began causing injury in 2019.

According to the  industry,  the key impact of dumping has been in the gypsum board industry’s declining revenues resulting in lower profitability.

“With declining prices and declining profit margins, the gypsum board industry reduced its sales to price-sensitive customers as it was unable to match the unsustainably low prices offered by importers,” the report said.

The period of investigation for dumping is from January 2022 to May 2023 while the period of investigation for injury is from 2019 to 2022

According to the report, the alleged dumped imports from Thailand amounted to 30,422 metric tons (MT), 58.43 percent of 52,066 MT total imports made by the Philippines in 2022.

Similarly, from January to May 2023, alleged dumped imports totaled to 15,774 MT, 66.15 percent of the 23,846 MT imported by the Philippines during the period.

“Based on the aforementioned, there is a prima facie evidence that the domestic industry suffered material injury before the acquisition efforts as evidenced by the low market share of the domestic industry ranging from 23 percent to 40 percent, operating losses and price suppression from 2019 to 2021, and price undercutting in 2021,” the report said.