Philippines Stop Guard Cement Indonesia Production, Mendag Zulhas: Opportunities To Improve Exports

Export illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Good news for the country's cement industry. The Philippine government has not extended the implementation of trade security measures (safeguards) on Indonesian cement products that have been taking place since October 2019.

Thus, as of October 22, 2022, Indonesia will no longer be subject to SECURITY Measures Import Duty (BMTP) for cement products in the range of 8 pesos to 10 Philippine pesos per one 40 kilogram cement sack.

Responding to the Philippines' decision, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said this provides a positive opportunity for efforts to increase exports to the Philippine market so that export performance is increasing. "This happy news certainly becomes a breath of fresh air and is able to restore Indonesia's cement competitiveness in the Philippine market. This positive result certainly cannot be separated from the excellent defense and cooperation efforts between domestically-related parties. We hope that Indonesian cement producers can be encouraged to accelerate exports to the Philippine market and improve the performance of non-oil and gas exports," he said in an official statement, Thursday, November 24. The decision to stop the imposition of BMTP was based on the recommendations of the Philippine Tariff Commission. This recommendation is based on the final report on the results of the investigation published on October 5, 2022. The recommendation was then followed up by the Philippine Ministry of Trade and Industry through the Department of Administrative Order No. 22-14 series of 2022 issued on October 24, 2022 and published on its official website on November 9, 2022.

Zulhas, as Zulkifli Hasan is familiarly called, said the Philippine Government decided on this because based on the results of the investigation there was no serious loss to the Philippine domestic industry during the investigation period. In addition, Zulhas continued, there was no threat of serious losses and a significant reduction in economic conditions on the Philippine domestic industry in the near future. During the investigation period, namely in 2019-2021, the Philippine domestic industry has succeeded in maintaining market position, increasing factory capacity, stabilizing production costs, and increasing profitability. The Philippine Tariff Commission began investigating the extension of safeguard action against cement products with Tariff Posts 2523.29.90 and 2523.90.00 on February 24, 2022. As a follow-up, the Ministry of Trade through the Directorate General of Foreign Trade coordinated by the Directorate of Trade Security has taken proactive steps to secure access to the export market of Indonesian cement products in the Philippines. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the export value of cement products (HS 2523.29.90 and 2523.90.00) Indonesia to the Philippines in the January-September 2022 period was recorded at 7.52 million US dollars with an export volume of 153.95 thousand tons.

Meanwhile, in 2021, Indonesia's exports to the Philippines for these products will be recorded at US$13.43 million with a volume of 292.8 thousand tons.