Cement exports to the Philippines will be narrowed

The Philippines ' Ministry of Industry and Trade 's continued initiation of a safeguard investigation into Vietnamese cement is a new move aimed at creating an additional tax burden on Vietnamese cement imported into the Philippine market.

The Philippines' Ministry of Industry and Trade's continued initiation of a safeguard investigation into Vietnamese cement is a new move aimed at creating an additional tax burden on Vietnamese cement imported into the Philippine market.

In the list of 38 enterprises exporting cement to the Philippines provided by the Philippine Customs Department to the investigation agency, there are 18 Vietnamese enterprises.

The Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines has just provided more information about the Philippines' initiation of a preliminary investigation under safeguard measures on cement imported from a number of countries, including Vietnam.

The products under investigation are identified as cement products according to the ASEAN Harmonised Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN) codes AHTN 2523.29.90 and AHTN 2523.90.00.

The case was initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines under Article 6 of Safeguard Investigation Law No. 8800 based on initial information provided by the Bureau of Customs of the Philippines and members of the Philippine Cement Manufacturers Association showing that the increase in imported cement has led to serious damage to the domestic cement industry.

In the list of 38 cement exporting enterprises to the Philippines provided by the Philippine Customs Department to the investigation agency, there are 18 Vietnamese enterprises. The investigation agency (Philippines Department of Trade and Industry) will ask questions and request related enterprises to answer and provide information.

According to preliminary information from the Investigation Agency, during the period 2019 to 2024, there were times when Vietnamese cement accounted for 98% of the total amount of cement imported into the Philippine market.

Vietnam's cement imports into the Philippines in the period 2019 - 2024

Year	Total cement imports of the Philippines (million tons)	Cement imported from Vietnam (million tons)	Occupy %
2019	5,331,854	4,232,387	79%
2020	5,882,935	5,376,070	91%
2021	6,894,860	6,381,001	93%
2022	6,695,844	6,341,460	95%
2023	7,013,358	6,878,572	98%
2024	3,680,534	3,442,522	94%

"With the above information, it can be seen that the Philippine Ministry of Industry and Trade initiated a preliminary investigation under safeguard measures against cement imported from a number of countries into the Philippine market, but mainly targeting cement imported from Vietnam," said the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines.

Previously, the Philippines also investigated and imposed temporary safeguard duties on Vietnamese cement, and at the same time investigated anti-dumping on cement imported from Vietnam.

By 2022, although the Philippine Tax Commission recommended continuing to impose safeguard duties on cement imported from Vietnam, the Philippine Ministry of Industry and Trade did not agree and decided not to continue imposing safeguard duties but only to impose anti-dumping duties on cement imported from Vietnam.

The Philippines’ Ministry of Trade and Industry’s renewed initiation of a safeguard investigation into Vietnamese cement is a new move aimed at imposing additional tax burdens on Vietnamese cement imported into the Philippine market, thereby protecting the domestic cement industry. This will create more difficulties for Vietnamese cement producers and exporters.

If in an anti-dumping investigation, the investigating agency must investigate each exporting enterprise and impose separate anti-dumping taxes on each enterprise, then in a safeguard investigation, it will investigate and impose common taxes.

The difference of a safeguard investigation is that in a safeguard investigation, the Philippines will investigate and impose taxes on all sources of imported cement (countries) and the tax rate applied to businesses is the same (ie businesses are subject to the same tax rate).

This is the point that domestic enterprises need to pay attention to in order to gather together, have a voice, and share information to ensure the best interests of the domestic cement industry.

The main content of the safeguard investigation is that the investigating agency considers and assesses the level of "serious damage" to the domestic manufacturing industry due to the impact of imported cement, without specifically investigating the selling price of each exporting enterprise.

Therefore, the best solution is for the Association or organization of domestic cement industry enterprises to organize for enterprises to review together, have a common voice with the Philippine investigation agency in reviewing and analyzing the actual "serious damages", and the causal relationship between these damages and the increase in the volume of imported cement.

This approach is key to protecting the domestic cement industry from the safeguard investigation by the Philippine authorities.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/batdongsan/xi-mang-se-hep-duong-xuat-khau-sang-philippines-d230710.html