DTI to probe impact of increased cement importation

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will launch a probe "to determine whether increased imports of cement is causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry."

In a notice issued on October 28, Trade Secretary Ma. Cristina Roque said this is pursuant to Section 6 of Republic Act No. 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act which provides that the DTI Secretary may initiate preliminary safeguard investigation if there is evidence that increased imports of the product under consideration would be a threat to a specific product’s local sector.

The preliminary investigation will cover the importation of cement from the years 2019 to 2024.

The probe was triggered by the following evidence made available to the DTI as cement imports reached 51% in June 2024.

The Trade Department also took note that the domestic cement industry’s sales decline from P79 billion in 2019 to P64 billion in 2023.

The share of domestic cement was also observed to decline from 78% in 2019 to 68% in 2023 and 66% in January to June 2024.

Moreover, the local cement sector’s operating profit saw a significant decline in 2022 by 69% and it further dropped by 137% to an operating loss in 2023.

Data cited by the DTI also showed that the weighted average landed cost of imports is lower than the average selling price of the domestic product, “indicating a price undercutting of 24%” which compelled local cement makers to reduce prices by 2% to compete with lower-priced imported cement.

Roque, in her notice, said that the “increase in the volume of imported cement preceded the serious injury to the industry in 2023” and “the conditions of competition show that the market share of locally produced cement was essentially displaced during the POI (period of investigation) as the share of imports in the domestic market significantly increased.”

With this, the Trade chief called on concerned stakeholders to submit their comments and position on the matter.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News