Indonesia Flooded with Imported Goods, Ministry of Trade: It Seems We are the Ones to Blame

JAKARTA - Special Staff of the Minister of Trade for International Trade Agreements, Bara Krishna Hasibuan denied that the Ministry of Trade was said to be the source of many imported goods entering Indonesia.

Bara considered that his party seemed to be blamed because imported products were flooding the domestic market. In fact, Bara emphasized that the Ministry of Trade was actively involved in protecting local industries.

"We get the impression that with the entry of these imported goods, there are many complaints from local industries as if the fault lies with the Ministry of Trade. We want to clarify that in fact the Ministry of Trade is actively doing various things to be able to protect local industries," said Bara at the Ministry of Trade Office, Central Jakarta, written on Tuesday, July 16.

Bara explained that his party has two instruments to respond to the situation of the entry of large quantities of imported goods. The first is safeguard or Safeguard Import Duty (BMTP) and the second is Anti-Duming Import Duty (BMAD).

Furthermore, Bara explained that both instruments function to save domestic industries. He said this can be seen from the many investigations and imposition of trade remedies instruments for various imported products in the last five years, namely from 2019 to 2023.

On the other hand, continued Bara, the investigation and application of BMAD and BMTP are also related to imported products that are closely related to raw materials for domestic industries.

"These products include clothing and clothing accessories, fabrics, curtains, carpets, staple yarn, yarn filaments, ceramic tiles, refrigerator and freezer evaporators, steel, paper, lysine, ceramic coatings, and packaging plates," he said.

Bara said that BMAD and BMTP are also regulated in Government Regulation (PP) Number 34 of 2011 concerning Anti-Dumping Measures, Countervailing Measures, and Trade Security Measures.

Bara assessed that the fundamental difference between antidumping measures and trade safeguard measures lies in the subject of their imposition.

According to Bara, in using both BMAD and BMTP instruments, there are also a number of requirements that must be met.

"The main thing that must exist is that the domestic industry is experiencing losses or threats of losses. In addition, there must be a causal relationship between the two requirements," he said.