Lafarge vows to keep lid on cement prices

Lafarge Cement Philippines, Inc. president Peter J. Hoddinott assured yesterday that Lafarge would continue to keep a lid on the price of its cement as long as government provides the cement industry with tariff protection.

In an interview with The STAR, Hoddinott welcomed the preliminary injunction issued by the Court of Appeals against the lifting of the temporary tariff of P20.60 bag of imported cement.

The provisional tariff was slapped by the Department of Trade and Industry in December last year upon investigation into the complaint of local cement firms of cement dumping.

The provisional tariff was for a period of 200 days only and was set to expire last Friday, June 28, after the Tariff Commission junked the cement firms’ petition for protection under the Safeguards Measures Act.

According to Hoddinott, the imposition of the provisional tariff has resulted in a substantial drop in imported cement to around four percent of total market.

At the height of the cement importation, Hoddinott said, imported cement accounted for as much as 33 percent of the market.

Hoddinott further assured that if the market share of imported cement is kept at four percent, Lafarge, could effectively compete with imported cement.

Lafarge he assured is efficient in its cement production in spite of the fact that its power cost is one of the highest in the region, second only to Japan.

Hoddinott further assured that despite the current slump in the cement industry, Lafarge is committed to stay in the Philippines for the long-term.