Displaying items by tag: Cement Importers Association of the Philippines

Philippines: The Cement Importers Association of the Philippines (CIAP) has filed a petition before the court of tax appeals requesting that the government refunds their past cement safeguard duty payments. The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that CIAP members say that the duty is unlawful as imports pose no threat to the domestic cement industry. The total sum for which importers are seeking reimbursement is US$25.4m.

The three-year imposition of duties by the government’s Department of Trade and Industry ends in 2022.

Philippines: The Cement Importers Association of the Philippines (CIAP) has defended cement imports from Vietnam. In a statement the association said that all legally imported cement sold in the Philippines met the required standards, according to the BusinessWorld newspaper. It made the comment in response to media reports that ‘substandard’ Vietnam-sourced cement was saturating the market.

CIAP said that the controls imposed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were tougher for imported cement than for locally produced cement. Local manufacturers are audited once per year compared to checks for every batch of imported cement. The DTI said it was going to impose a provisional tariff on imported cement in early 2019.