According to information from the Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA), the Philippines has concluded not to extend anti-dumping duty on cement products of some Vietnamese enterprises exporting to this country. This is information taken from the official notice of VNCA related to the anti-dumping lawsuit of Vietnamese cement exporters to the Philippines.
In early 2021, the cement manufacturing industry in the Philippines filed a lawsuit against Vietnamese cement producers for dumping cement products in this country, causing serious damage to the domestic industry.
On April 20, 2021, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) initiated an anti-dumping investigation against cement products originating from Vietnam based on the request from domestic cement manufacturers.
The period for determining the margin of dumping in the DTI's decision to impose duties has been changed from the period specified in the decision to initiate the initial investigation. The period of investigation (POI) for dumping is from July 2019 to June 2020, while the POI for loss is from 2017 to June 2020.
According to regulations, enterprises subject to anti-dumping duty can file a complaint with the Secretary of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines within 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision to impose anti-dumping duty if they do not agree with the decision of DTI.
Considering that the applied anti-dumping duty rate does not objectively reflect production and sales figures, Vietnamese enterprises have submitted a complaint to DIT for settlement.
In the event that after making a complaint, businesses find that the settlement results are not satisfactory, businesses can sue DTI in the Philippine court. If it is still not resolved satisfactorily, the cement manufacturing and exporting enterprises can contact the Vietnamese Government through the Vietnam National Cement Association to consider suing the Philippines at the WTO.
Philippines imposes anti-dumping duty on cement products against Vietnam
According to the announcement of VNCA, there are expected to be 6 cement exporting enterprises of Vietnam that are not subject to anti-dumping duty on some cement products, 11 other enterprises are subject to anti-dumping duty. The anti-dumping duty rate that Vietnamese enterprises have to bear ranges from 4 to 28% of the export price for OPC cement and from 3 to 55% for mixed cement.
This decision was made based on the results of an investigation by the Philippines that found that Vietnam's total cement exports to the Philippines did not cause significant damage to cement manufacturers in the country. The results show that there are many other reasons unrelated to Vietnam that affect the price of cement in this country such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the decrease in demand in the domestic market.
This is an important basis for the Philippines to not continue to extend the safeguard duty on cement products imported into the Philippines market.
According to Administrative Order No. 22-17 issued on December 16, the Philippine Department of Industry and Trade (DTI) is considering anti-dumping duty on Portland Type 1 cement and Type 1P mixed cement imported from Vietnam within 5 years to prevent damage to the domestic cement industry
The administrative order will take effect at the end of the review petition period with no motion filed or a motion filed but not approved. The General Department of Customs of the Philippines will then issue a Customs Memorandum of Understanding to implement this Administrative Order.
The soft copy of DTI Administrative Order 22-17 (English) can be downloaded here.
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