FPI urges government to protect local steel industry

MANILA, Philippines - The government must put in place measures to protect the local steel industry from artificially cheap products dumped into the country.

This warning was issued by the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) who appealed to the government to protect the steel industry from Chinese steel products after China announced that it is giving 13-percent to 17-percent rebates to its steel exporters.

 “The government should not wait until our industries suffer more injuries from import surge before taking action. It is now time to think of the welfare of the Filipino workers, the Philippine economy, and the country as a whole,” FPI president Jesus L. Arranza said in a statement.

 “If we will not respond to this immediately, the Philippines will become a mere importing country and will be at the mercy of other countries for an important industry like steel,” he warned.

Arranza said the export rebates program of China poses an imminent threat to domestic producers because it would make Chinese steel products a lot cheaper than they already are now.

The rebate program, which took effect April 1, reduced the price of steel especially angle bars that are imported from China. This means that for the original price of $1,000 per metric ton, for instance, Chinese exporters only need to sell their steel products to the international market to as low as $830 because they just have to claim the $170 from their government.

Compounding this is a zero-to five-percent tariff that the country is now imposing on various steel products from China under the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement

Arranza said this development would further put the Philippine manufacturers at a disadvantage once the Chinese steel exports enter the domestic market.

For the steel angle bars, for example, the local makers are saying that based on their latest computation, the price of the Chinese imports are about P14,000 cheaper per ton than their actual production cost.

This is why the local industry is now seeking a safeguard duty of about P14 per kilo for imported steel angle bars. The Tariff Commission is hearing the case and would be making a recommendation soon.

Earlier, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) decided to impose a P1 per ton provisional safeguard duty for below 80-millimeter angle bars.

“We view with utmost concern and surprise the amount imposed by the DTI, which is supposed to deter the import surge. Imposing a P0.001 per kilo additional duty will surely not arrest the surge. I feel it must have been a mistake and somebody down the line at the DTI committed an error and Secretary (Peter B.) Favila inadvertently signed it,” Arranza said.

He assured the DTI that FPI will not tolerate its members who will use the additional duties to increase prices and disadvantage the Filipino consumers. He said this is the reason why the local manufacturers collaborated with the government, the academe and other stakeholders in coming up with the Philippine National Standards (PNS) for the steel angles.