Anti-dumping duty on soap raw material extended for 3 years

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) gave local soap manufacturers a reprieve until 2007 with the approval of their request for a three-year extension of the anti-dumping duty on the importation of sodium tripolyphosphates (STTP) from China.

"We have found that the lifting of the imposition of the definitive anti-dumping duty on STTP will result in the continuance or recurrence of the dumping and injury," said Trade Secretary Cesar V. Purisima.

Local soap manufacturers have been lobbying for the extension of anti-dumping duties imposed on STTP, one of the raw materials used in soap-making.

It can be recalled that in 1999, the special committee on anti-dumping chaired by the Department of Finance, approved the request of Chemphil Albright and Wilson Corporation (CAWC) to impose such duties on the importation of STTP from certain exporters from China.

The anti-dumping duties were supposed to expire last December but the CAWC filed a petition in June 2003 with the Tariff Commission (TC), asking the government not just to continue imposing the duties but also to peg higher tariffs on STTP.

Purisima said that while the extension was approved, CAWC and other local soap manufacturers should be taking more concrete steps to ensure their competitiveness once the anti-dumping duties lapses in three years.

The TC also required CAWC to demonstrate it is implementing "positive adjustments to import competition by locally sourcing phosphoric acid, in lieu of the yellow phosphorus from China as a raw material in the manufacture of STTP."

The extension of the anti-dumping duties on STTP was slapped on the following exporting firms from China: Kunming Import & Export Corporation which now have to pay a tariff of $70.22 per metric ton (MT) of STTP, Yunnan Centsun Industry Co.- $33.91/MT. Other exporters will be paying $70.22/MT.

Purisima said the government resorts to anti-dumping measures to protect local manufacturing firms against unfair competition and trade practices.

He stressed however, that domestic companies should not be relying on such measures and should instead be focusing on improving their competitiveness during the temporary respite provided them.