No BOI okay needed for cement exports for sample purposes

Cement exports for sample purposes will no longer have to get an approval from the Board of Investments, BOI Executive Director Elmer Hernandez said yesterday.

"The new policy would facilitate and cut the red tape for cement manufacturers and lessen the workload of the BOI board," he said.

The BOI announced the policy change following a request from Solid Cement Corp. to export 10 bags of cement to a prospective client for sample purposes.

"Requiring separate approval for cement exports of less than commercial quantity is unnecessary and merely adds to the bureaucratic red tape," Hernandez said.

Hernandez, however, could not quantify what the BOI interprets as "commercial quantity." He said that exports of even up to one ton could be less than commercial quantity.

The previous policy of the BOI was to require all cement manufacturers to get prior BOI approval for all their cement exports.

Hernandez explained that such a policy was deemed necessary in the past when there was a shortage of cement supply.

The BOI had wanted to prevent a situation wherein local cement manufacturers will be exporting all their output that there would be no supply to meet local demand.

Hernandez said requiring BOI approval for small quantities is tedious for both the BOI and the cement manufacturers.