Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines has warned that so-called ‘technical’ smuggling is on the rise. CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez claimed that the declared freight costs for nine out of 12 imported cement shipments that it inspected were undervalued at only US$3 – 10/t. These compared to the average freight costs of US$19/t for shipments from Vietnam or China. He added that the difference in the freight costs meant that the government could be losing at least US$175,000 in value added tax (VAT), according to the Philippines Daily Inquirer.

Based on the sample, Ordoñez estimates about 75% of the 161,000t of imported cement that entered the country in the first quarter of the 2016 were technically smuggled. CEMAP have called for inspection of other shipments that entered the country in last quarter of 2015 and in the first quarter of 2016. They added that unchecked smuggling might lead to violations such as cement misclassification and substandard cement that in turn might endanger public safety.

CEMAP data shows that imports of cement grew from 4000t in 2014 to 314,000t in 2015. Cement imports of 161,000t were recorded for the quarter of 2016.