Jetti Petroleum pays P1.13-B import tax in Jan.-June

 

Independent oil player Jetti Petroleum Inc. paid more than P1 billion in import tax in January to June as demand for petroleum products increased and the peso depreciated.

 

In an e-mailed statement Wednesday, Jetti said total import duties and taxes reached P1.13 billion, or 53 percent more compared with P737.6 million a year earlier.

 

The company expects to pay P2 billion in total import tax for the year.

 

Jetti Corporate Affairs manager Leo Bellas said the company increased the volume of importation to meet product requirements of Jetti stations nationwide.

 

"For the first half of this year, we sold 174.4 million liters ? considerably greater compared with the 157.9 million liters in the previous year’s first half,” he said.

 

Bellas also attributed the higher tax remittances to the depreciation of the peso.

 

“Since the product landed cost is the basis of dutiable value, a higher foreign exchange rate would yield higher dutiable value once the amount is converted from US dollar to Philippine peso,” he added.

 

In September 2011, the Bureau of Customs filed a P4.1-billion technical smuggling case against Jetti, which the company denied saying it complies with all Philippine laws.

 

The company currently courses all product importations through its sole importing bulk terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. The collecting district is Bureau of Customs District 10 – Port of Cagayan de Oro, through its sub-port in the Mindanao International Container Terminal.

"Jetti has been consistently one of the said district’s top taxpayers," the company said in the statement. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News