FTA backs DTI decision to keep safeguard duty on cement

The Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) has expressed its support for the maintenance of the safeguard tariff on imported cement until December 2004.

In a letter to Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the FTA said that the local cement industry is a strategic industry that is vital for the long-term sustainability of the economy.

The FTA said that the existence of a world-class, competitive local cement industry is one of the backbones of the country’s agro-industrial development.

The FTA stressed that having a viable local cement industry is part of the solution to the country’s poverty problem since it is a major source of direct, indirect employment.

Dependence on imported cement, the FTA warned, results in higher cement prices.

It is therefore essential that the country is able to produce its own cement needs, the group warned.

The FTA further pointed out that industrialized countries tend to protect their own industries to the detriment of workers in developing countries such as the Philippines.

The FTA cited the fact that there are over 200 million tons per year of regional excess capacity and most countries in the region have established protective measure to keep imported cement from flooding their markets.

Without the temporary safeguard measures, the FTA warned, the Philippines would become the region’s only open cement market.