Philippines: no need to extend executive order lifting tariff
Philippine manufacturers assured the government that there will be stable supply and prices of cement in the country so there is no need to extend the executive order (EO) temporarily eliminating the tariff on imported cement.
Ernie Ordoñez, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (Cemap), said the industry is more than prepared to supply the expected increase in domestic requirements with the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts going on.
“We have more than enough supply and our price is good. If we have high prices then the imports would have already come in,” Ordoñez told the BusinessMirror.
He said the government should now restore the tariff imposed on imported cement to give the industry some level of protection.
Ordoñez noted that other countries in the region maintain tariff walls for their cement industries, with Vietnam at 35 per cent, Thailand at 10 per cent and Malaysia, five per cent.
“We believe in a level playing field, and therefore cement tariff must be aligned with the tariff rates of other countries in our region,” he said.
Source: Business Mirror Published under Cement News
