DTI asked to recall safeguard duty petition on imported cement

Consumer advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. has urged the Department of Trade and Industry to recall the moto propio safeguards duty petition on imported cement. LKI President Victorio Mario Dimagiba said they have entered intervention in the moto propio petition filed by the DTI Secretary who initiated a safeguard duty investigation on imported cement sans any application from the local cement industry.

According to Dimagiba, his group is also considering of elevating the DTI action to the President and the Philippine Competition Commission.

The 2 pages LKI intervention was received by the Bureau of Import Services on September 27, 2018, a Bureau reporting directly to the DTI Secretary and acknowledged received by the BIS Director on October 2, 2018.

Dimagiba said that the cement importers cannot commit to the demand of the government Build Build Build projects as well as private developers for long term supply contracts due to the pending petition for the imposition of safeguard duty.

The imposition of the safeguard duty is detrimental to the consumers and can create shortages in the supply of cement that can derail private and infrastructure projects and can increase retail prices.

Dimagiba added that the DTI should ensure the completion of the expansion of local plant capacities before starting a safeguard duty investigation on imported cement.

Dimagiba himself has a more than 2 year old complaint pending with the Philippine Competition Commission against the members of the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines or Cemap, which earlier determined preliminary findings to proceed to a full investigation.

R.A. 10667, or the Philippine Competition Act, was passed in 2015 and the Philippine Competition Commission is tasked to punish anti-competitive conduct against those who practice cartel. In the meantime, Dimagiba says that the Philippine government should freely allow cement imports to protect the greater interest of Filipino consumers.

At the aftermath of the Asian financial crises in 1997, the country’s cement industry fell into the hands of multinationals Cemex, LaFarge-Holcim and CRH. Multinationals control 70 percent more or less the country’s production capacity. (BCM)