Imports surge hits clear float glass; govt probing, eyeing safeguard duty

FOLLOWING the imposition of a safeguard duty on cement, the government is now eyeing to protect the float glass industry after it reportedly got hit by a surge in imports from 2013 to 2017.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has issued a notice of initiation for a preliminary investigation on whether to apply safeguard measure on clear and tinted float glass. He said his agency found the existence of a prima facie case in the protest that increased imports over the past years seriously injured the local float glass industry.

Citing data from the Bureau of Customs, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said in a report the import volume of clear float glass jumped from 2013 to 2016, and only declined in 2017 due to the antidumping measure imposed on clear float glass from China.

Imports of clear float glass surged 646 percent in 2014 to 32,351 metric tons (MT) from 4,337 MT in 2013, and rose 52 percent in 2015 to 49,289 MT. It further went up in 2016, this time by 19 percent, to 58,787 MT, before falling in 2017 by 29 percent to 42,029 MT.

“It was observed that during the POI [period of investigation], imports of clear float and clear reflective glass showed an upward trend which is recent, sharp, sudden and significant,” the report read.

The volume of imported tinted float glass also leaped by triple digits in 2014 and 2015, the report added. Customs data showed imports of tinted float glass increased 274 percent in 2014 to 22,431 MT from 6,005 MT in 2013; and jumped 127 percent in 2015 to 50,974 MT.

However, imports slumped 15 percent in 2016 to 43,255 MT, and dipped 2 percent in 2017 to 42,312 MT.

“In 2016 it declined 7,719 MT, or 15 percent, and slightly declined by 2 percent in 2017. In 2017 an antidumping duty was imposed on bronze float glass from PROC [People’s Republic of China],” the report read.

According to the DTI, the major suppliers of imported float glass from 2013 to 2017 were China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

China nearly accounted for all of clear float glass imports in 2016 with a 96.66-percent market share. It was only in 2017, when an antidumping duty was slapped on clear float glass, that the import share of China slumped to 22.07 percent.

The Philippines imposes no import duty on float glass from Southeast Asian countries, but taxes Chinese clear and tinted float glass by 15 percent.

The surge in imports, the report added, resulted in a steady drop in the sales of the domestic industry—dipping 1.24 percent in 2014 to P99 million from P100 million in 2013, falling 3.92 percent in 2015 to P95 million; and further slipping 5.71 percent in 2016 to P89 million.

It recovered 36.42 percent in 2017 to P122 million in reaction to the antidumping imposition on Chinese clear float glass.

On the other hand, sales of locally made tinted float glass grew 53.46 percent in 2014 to P153 million from P100 million in 2013, declined 36.66 percent in 2015 to P97 million, but rebounded 10 percent in 2016 to P107 million. In 2017 sales rose 42.48 percent to P152 million, industry data claimed.

The petition to apply safeguard measures was filed by Pioneer Float Glass Manufacturing Inc. on the claim that it got seriously injured by the increased import volume of clear and tinted float glass from 2013 to 2017.

Pioneer Float Glass is the lone manufacturer of float glass in the country with 192 dealers nationwide that distribute to customers downstream. The petition comes on the heels of the government’s decision to implement a safeguard duty of P210 per MT on cement.