DTI increases anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese imports

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has slapped provisional anti-dumping duties as high as 32 per cent on specific Portland cement brands from Vietnam to the Philippines, as these were found to be causing "serious injury" to local cement manufacturers.

In a statement on Sunday, the DTI said a preliminary determination showed that nine out of 16 Vietnamese exporters of Type 1 cement and four out of 12 exporters of Type 1P cement have been dumping cement in the Philippines.

The provisional anti-dumping duties on Type 1 cement starts at US$1.02/t or 2.69 per cent of the price, to US$10.53/t or 31.87 per cent of the price.

"The nine exporters account for 82 per cent of total imports of Type 1 cement. These provisional duties are estimated to add PHP2.01 to PHP25.08 (US$0.039-0.497) to the import cost of a 40kg bag of cement," the DTI said.

Meanwhile, Type 1P cement exported from Vietnam will be hit with provisional duties ranging from US$1.16/t or 3.8 per cent of the price, to US$12.79/t or 29.20 per cent of the price.

"These provisional duties are estimated to add PHP2.01 to PHP25.08 to the import cost of a 40kg bag of cement, but this is not expected to be passed on to the users due to strong competition from local and other imported brands," the Trade department said.