Antidumping body to finish probe on flour imports in March
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)