The Tariff Commission (TC) has begun the formal investigation into the anti-dumping case lodged against the importation of Vietnam cement products used for infrastructure construction.

In a recent notice, the TC said that it has been looking into the merits of imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty against the Ordinary Portland Cement Type 1 and Blended Type 1P import from Vietnam.

This is in line with Section 711 of Republic Act 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, which adopted the provision of the Anti-Dumping Act of 1999.

The commission, as such, is set to hold a preliminary conference on December 20 to be attended by all interested parties, including those who participated in the initial probe by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

It will be an avenue to discuss the timelines, nature of investigation, appearance of counsel and parties, number of witnesses, notification, accessibility of documents and public and confidentiality of documents.

In addition, the conference will tackle the submission of position papers and memoranda, conduct of inspection and verification of data, schedules of public hearings and other activities and other related concerns.

The TC probe came after the DTI’s announcement earlier this month regarding the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty in the form of cash bond on said Vietnam cement imports. It will be in place for four months beginning the issuance of the relevant memorandum order.

For Type 1 cement, the provisional anti-dumping duty will range from $1.02/metric ton (MT) to $10.53/MT, which is equivalent to 2.69 percent to 31.87 percent of the export price. The computed duties for Type 1P cement, meanwhile, are from $1.16/MT to $12.79/MT or 3.80 percent to 29.20 percent of the export price.

The provisional duties are estimated to hike the import cost of a 40-kilogram bag of cement by P2.01 to P25.08. But Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez assured it will not increase the retail price of the cement due to its minimal impact on landed cost.

The DTI investigation revealed that 9 out of 16 Vietnamese exporters of Type 1 cement and 4 out of 12 exporters of Type 1P cement have been dumping in the country.

Based on the electronic Bureau of Customs-Single Administrative Documents, the computed volume of dumped cement reached 4.26 million MT or 55 percent of the total Philippine imports from July 2019 to December 2020. This is much higher than the de minimis volume requirement of 3 percent.

The cement dumping hurt the local manufacturers, the DTI said, noting it stunted their growth. Their market share, for one, decreased to 74 percent in 2020 from 85 percent in 2017. This, as the share of cement imports from Vietnam rose to 23 percent in 2020 from 18 percent the previous year.

Dumping refers to exporting of product at a much lower price for the foreign importing country compared to the cost in the exporters’ local market.

Source: BMP