The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has imposed definitive general safeguard measures on imports of ordinary Portland cement and blended cement, following a finding that rising imports have caused serious injury to the domestic industry.
Under Department Administrative Order 25-15, a safeguard duty of PHP14 per 40kg bag, or PHP349 per tonne, will be applied for a period of three years. The measure covers ordinary Portland cement Type 1 and blended cement and follows an investigation by the Tariff Commission, which concluded that imported cement directly competes with locally produced products and surged to the detriment of domestic manufacturers.
The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) welcomed the decision, noting that local producers suffered significant declines in market share, sales, production and capacity utilisation during the investigation period. Capacity utilisation fell to 53 per cent in 2024, according to the association.
