The Filipino-Chinese Bakery Association (FCBA) yesterday said theywill submit its position as intervenor on the anti-dumping petition by flour millers against Turkish flour imports in an effort to protect their source of cheaper priced but quality flour.

Benito Lim, FCBA president, told reporters as the Department of Agriculture has published a notice on June 7, 2013 requesting all interested parties to submit their position to counter the allegations of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers. The DA has already commenced a preliminary anti-dumping investigation after it found the existence of a prima facie case against imported Turkish flour for being sold in the local market at dumped prices.

"On our part, we will file as intervenor because we are using imported flour and as an end-user," Lim said. Lim said they will file within the 30-day period allowed by the DA.

Lim noted that the imposition of anti-dumping duty, which they said the millers were asking for a 20 percent punitive duty on Turkey, would put small bakers under the mercy of the expensive locally-milled flour.

Turkish hard flour (which is used for bread) is only sold for P720per 25 kilogram bag while the soft flour (for pastries, biscuits, noodles and pasta) is lower at over P600 per bag. Comparatively, retail prices of locally milled flour range from P900 to P950 per bag.

Bakers, however, said that Turkish flour still accounts for only 3to 5 percent of total wheat flour imports, which could be around 7 percent of total flour supply in the domestic market. Local flour millers produce 2 million metric tons or more than 50 percent below their capacity of 4.4 million MT.

According to the bakers, small bakeries have proliferated only in the past four to five years because of the availability of cheap flour.

But, if prices of flour are going to rise up again these small bakeries will run out of business and will close shop and these entrepreneurs will become mere workers again.

Lim even noted that local flour millers have been competing with their own customers as they themselves have subsidiaries that are engaged in flour production, feeds, bakery products, among others.

09:36 June 20, 2013

Source: blackseagrain.net