Multi-sectoral group backs DTI decision to keep tariffs on cement

The decision of Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II to maintain the current tariff on cement imports has drawn further support, this time from a multi-sectoral group.

In a letter to the Trade and Industry Secretary, the Citizens’ Alliance for Consumer Protection (CACP) reiterated its support to Roxas for maintaining the safeguard measures that protects the local cement industry from the influx of imported cement.

CACP is a multi-sectoral non-government organization (NGO) with thousands of partners in industry, services and agriculture. It is among the few in the country who are members of Consumer International (CI), the latter having a consultative status with the United Nations.

"We reiterate our support to you for maintaining the current tariff on cement imports, without which the local cement industry may collapse given the excess capacity in the region," said Raul E. Segovia, CACP chairman.

Segovia also urged Roxas to keep the current tariff remedies on cement as the consumers and thousands of workers in the industry will reap the short-and-long-term benefits of such decision.

"We strongly believe there are short-term and long-term benefits resulting from your decision to defend local industries from unfair trade," Segovia stressed.

He said cement is an excellent example of how consumers with local producers have benefited from it due to the imposition of tariffs on unfairly traded imports.

Since the imposition of a P20.60 corrective tariff per 40-kg. bag of imported cement, local cement prices have decreased by 11.7 percent based on the latest data from the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The NSO also reported a decline in the prices of tileworks, which is also covered by the DTI decision to impose safeguard measure tariffs.

Despite these developments, the DTI reportedly plans to reduce the tariffs protecting the local cement and tiles industries prompting the CACP to also ask Roxas to keep the current tariff remedies.

Segovia said reducing the prices of things that are already low and locally produced only prepares the sector to monopoly and flooding of imports.

"In the long haul, it is disadvantageous to millions of workers, consumers and local industry," he said.

He warned that the absence of proper protection in the form of safeguard measures could result to the collapse of local industries, similar to the fate of the domestic steel industry.

"In the case of our domestic steel industry, imported steel was dumped in our country in the late 1990s by countries with excess production capacity such as Russia, South Korea and China," Segovia noted.

"In spite of an appeal to authorities to implement anti-dumping and other safety measures to stop the bleeding and closure, the proper protection was never provided and the steel industry died an expensive death," he added.

He further said that prices of steel products have skyrocketed since the country has become import dependent anew.