Antidumping body to finish probe on flour imports in March

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Antidumping Committee (KADI) is set to wrap up its one-year investigation into charges of dumping by wheat and flour producers from Europe, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia, the government said on Friday.

Director General of Chemical Industries, Agribusiness and Forest Products at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Gatot Ibnusantosa said KADI would announce the investigation results by the end of March.

"Next month we'll know whether we must impose countervailing duties on these countries, and by how much," Gatot said at a press conference after meeting the association of Indonesian wheat and flour producers.

He expected KADI to make an official announcement on March 22, or about one year after it began the inquiry in response to allegations made by local producers.

The European countries charged with dumping were Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, he said.

"They (Europe) make up around 30 percent of the imported flour and wheat," he said.

Total imports of flour and wheat surged to 500,000 tons last year, up from 367,000 tons in 1999, and only 22,000 tons the year before, he explained.

Gatot said the influx of imported flour and wheat was threatening local producers.

At the same time, he added, local players were still unable to produce flour at their full capacity of 4.7 million tons.

"In line with the local demand, producers here only mill about 2.6 million tons of flour, of which 1,800 tons is exported," he said.

In a paper it prepared, the association said Indonesia loses Rp 155 billion (about US$16.14 million) a year due to the cheap flour and wheat imports.

It said that although Indonesia's flour and wheat production costs were among the lowest in the world, the country was still importing these commodities despite a local oversupply.

The surge in imports to 500,000 tons last year made Indonesia the world's third largest flour and wheat importer after Yemen and Libya, the association said.

Economist and member of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) Faisal Basri said that most countries were capable of becoming self-sufficient flour and wheat producers.

According to him, countries produce flour and wheat to meet local demand, and exported them only if there was an oversupply.

The association said Indonesia had become a primary target for flour and wheat exporters, since it was among the few countries that imposed no import duties on these commodities. (bkm)