DTI amenable to imposition of safeguard duty on steel products

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) appears amenable to a proposal to impose a five percent tariff on hot-roiled coils and seven percent on cold-roiled coils and tinplates, while maintaining zero tariff on steel billets.

According to industry sources, the DTI is leaning towards the five-seven-seven percent proposal even as Global Steelworks International Inc. (GSII) or formerly the National Steel Corp. (NSC) is pushing for a higher tariff of six-eight-eight percent.

However, Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar V. Purisima reportedly is insisting that a dialogue with downstream steel industry players be held to hear their view on the proposed tariff and to be able to assess the impact of such tariff imposition on them.

NSC is petitioning for tariff protection for its products comprised of steel billets, cold and hot-roiled coil and tin plates.

Purisima has not taken any position on the tariff request and is specifically asking for the meeting to determine NSC’s needs and the concerns of downstream steel industry players.

NSC wants tariff protection to enable it to recover while it starts up manufacturing operations.

On the other hand, downstream steel industry players argue that they would be adversely affected by a rise in tariff rates especially since NSC does not have the capacity to provide the needs of the local downstream industry players.

Even in the past, the downstream steel industry players said, NSC was never able to be competitive even with tariff protection and only penalized the local downstream steel industry players through higher prices.

NSC had argued that even though it is temporarily closed, it is still considered a local manufacturer of steel products and would thus be affected by a lowering or removal of the existing tariff wall.