DTI to report on cement safeguard probe in January

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will report on the progress of its probe into whether safeguard measures should be imposed on cement imports by January next year.

“By January, we will be able to provide a clearer update on what the situation is,” Trade Secretary Cristina Roque told reporters when asked about developments on the DTI’s investigation on safeguard measures on cement.

Last October, the DTI announced that it would initiate, motu proprio, a preliminary investigation to determine if increased cement imports are causing serious injury to the domestic industry and if there is a need to impose safeguard measures.

Under Republic 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, a safeguard measure may be imposed through increased tariff on certain imports as a relief to the domestic industry when there is serious threat or injury caused by a surge in imports of like products.

The law also allows the Trade Secretary to launch a preliminary safeguard investigation, if there is evidence that increased imports of the product are threatening to bring serious injury to the local industry.

The DTI is conducting a preliminary safeguard measures investigation after the country’s cement imports increased from 2019 to 2023.

In particular, the country’s cement imports went up from 5.33 million metric tons (MT) in 2019 to 5.88 million MT in 2020 and rose further to 6.89 million MT in 2021.

While cement imports declined to 6.70 million MT in 2022, it increased again to 7.01 million MT last year.

For this year, cement imports are projected to rise to 7.36 million MT.

Cement imports rose by five percent year-on-year to 6.2 million tons in the January to October period, according to data from the Bureau of Customs.

In October this year, cement imports reached  a record high of 870,000 tons.

Vietnam is the top source of the country’s cement imports, accounting for 94 percent.

The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines and Federation of Philippine Industries have expressed support for the DTI’s conduct of the probe, emphasizing its importance in ensuring fair competition and protecting the domestic industry.