PWPA urges BOC to crack down on plywood smugglers

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) has urged to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to come down hard on smugglers of inferior plywood from China.

Based on unverified reports, PWPA executive director Maila Vasquez said some 300 to 400 container vans of illegally imported Chinese plywood arrive every month.

 A joint inspection taskforce composed of representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Bureau of Product Standards and the Philippine Product Safety and Quality Foundation conducted recently random inspection of construction supply stores in Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, Pangasinan, Las Piñas and Quezon City.

 Out of a total of 55 establishments inspected, at least 18 establishments were found to be selling non-compliant or “violative” plywood.

The PWPA believes there are a lot more of these smuggled plywood as indicated by a drop in prices after an initial rise following the imposition of a total log ban.

 The PWPA had warned that prices of wood products would increase following the the issuance of Executive Order 23 which imposes a total lag ban on primary forests. Before EO 23, plywood prices hovered at around P315 per board foot for the 5 mm or 1/4-inch plywood.

 Rising initially after the issuance of EO23, prices have since gone down to P320 per board foot, indicating the entry of illegally imported, inferior plywood from China, the PWPA said.

 The PWPA said illegally imported Chinese plywood is of rough quality has thin panels and untreated finish.

The PWPA had previously wanted that illegally imported plywood from China is resulting in possible tax loss to the government of up to P76 million.

Imported plywood is subject to a tariff of five to seven percent and a 12 percent value added tax.

Each 40 foot-container, Vasquez said, contains up to P1 million worth of plywood.

Thus, each container of illegally imported plywood could result in a loss to government of up to P190,000 per container which when multiplied by 400 would amount to as much as P76 million per month.

Additionally, Vasquez pointed out, each container of illegally imported plywood results in the loss of employment to 16 workers in the local wood sector.

Vasquez said plywood is covered by mandatory standards and local manufacturers are subject to Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) monitoring.

 Local plywood, she added, is required to be marked with the PS label.

Imported plywood, on the other hand, are required to obtain an Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) from the DTI.

However, Vasquez said, verification from the BPS reveals that almost all of the plywood imports have not declared their products and gotten the necessary ICC.

Locally-manufactured plywood, Vasquez explained, are easy to identify and differentiate from imported Chinese plywood.