Steel firms welcome DTI move on safeguard measures

MANILA, Philippines - Domestic manufacturers welcomed the announcement of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that the agency will endorse any day now to the Tariff Commission their petition for the extension of the safeguard measures imposed on angle bars and vowed to cooperate fully with the commission.

Ramon Khu, executive director of the Steel Angles, Shapes and Sections Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (SASSMAPI), said this shows that the current DTI leadership under Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo is sensitive to the plight of the domestic manufacturers who are continuously investing and trying their best to survive the onslaught of imported goods in the market.

“We are now in the midst of our adjustment programs so we could improve our competitiveness and we badly need the extension of the safeguard measure so we will have more time before we compete head-to-head again with the imported angle bars.

We thank the DTI for its prompt action and we vow to cooperate fully with the Tariff Commission in the course of action that it will take,” Khu said.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. has said the petition of local angle bar makers Cathay Metal Corp., Lunar Steel Corp. and Dragon Asia Rolling Mills Inc. for the extension of a three-year safeguard measure that was granted by the government in September 2009 will be referred to the commission as soon as possible.

“By law, petitions for extension of safeguard measures subsisting are referred by the DTI to the Tariff Commission for evaluation and hearing. Probably, [we will endorse it] by next week or two,” Cristobal said over the weekend.

The SASSMAPI members earlier wrote a letter to Domingo to formally submit their petition and said “the continuation and extension of the safeguard measure is also necessary in order that the positive adjustment to imported competition that the domestic industry has undertaken may continue and be completed.”

The DTI has slapped a safeguard duty of P7,700 per metric ton on steel angle bars in September 2009, and reduced it to P5,133 per metric ton starting April 2010. Under the law, safeguard measures can be extended for up to 10 years.

Edgardo Abon, chairman of the Tariff Commission, said once the agency has received the endorsement from DTI, they would conduct the necessary public hearing, investigation and evaluation of documents, after which a recommendation will be sent to the DTI.

A ruling extending the safeguard measure and come out before the lapse of the original three-year period