Taiwan slaps 104.48% tariff on RP cement

Taiwan is slapping Philippine cement imports with not just a 45-percent tariff rate, but rates as high as 104.48 percent.

A Taiwanese publishing company called the Commercial Times had reported last June 14 that the Taiwanese government will impose tariff rates ranging from 42 percent to 104.48 percent on Philippine cement.

The rates will be effective for five years.

Industry observers said that with rates ranging from 42 percent to 104.48 percent, Taiwan is effectively closing its market to Philippine cement and clinker products.

The Philippine Cement Manufacturers Corp. (Philcemcor) said the reported tariff rates are the "steepest barrier imposed on any commodity from the Philippines that we are aware of."

"The imposition of the high tariffs demonstrates the Taiwanese government’s intention to protect Taiwan from the region’s excess capacity of cement," the group said.

Taiwan’s move to protect its local cement industry is completely opposite to the government’s decision to continue allowing imported cement into the market with a minimal tariff of only five percent.

The Tariff Commission had junked the petition of Philcemcor for safeguard measures against imported cement.

"We cannot calculate the number of jobs that will be lost in the Philippines as a result of Taiwan’s decision (to impose high tariff rates)," Philcemcor lamented.