MOF to provisionally anti-dump-tax cement from China
Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) will levy provisional anti-dumping taxes on cement from China with the single tax anticipated to rise by 50%.
Taiwan Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TCMA) says the anti-dumping tax will help reduce damage to Taiwan’s cement industry, with domestic cement prices to accurately reflect production costs to normalise prices.
Major cement makers as Taiwan Cement Corp. and Asia Cement Corp. will mainly benefit from the provisional anti-dump taxes.
The MOF, starting on July 19, 2002, levied high anti-dumping taxes on cement and clinker from Japan, the Philippines, South Korea for five years to the benefit of local cement firms by stopping foreign competition.
China has been dumping cement on Taiwan, at half the local prices, since the fourth quarter of 2009 to cause an over 20% decline in prices in the fourth quarter of 2010, wreaking havoc on local operators.
TCMA figures show imported cement into Taiwan increases from 1Mt in 2007 to 2.5Mt in 2010 with market share surging from less than 10% to over 20%.
In 2010, over 90% of Taiwan’s cement producers saw plummeting profitability. The anti-dumping tax will, says an industry insider, push up local cement prices by 17% to around NT$2300/t (US$80) from the present NT$1900 and NT$2000.
Published under Cement News
