China lobbies RI on ceramic imports

China lobbies RI on ceramic imports

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

China has asked Indonesia not to impose anti-dumping and
safeguard sanctions on Chinese flour and ceramic tableware
imports, saying the move would backfire and hurt Indonesian
industry, a trade delegation said on Friday.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce's bureau of fair trade for
imports and exports director Cheng Yongru said there was no
urgency for Indonesia to impose safeguard sanctions on ceramic
tableware imports.

"The Indonesian government has recently increased its import
duties on tableware products to 30 percent from 5 percent. Now,
there is no necessity to put on extra tariffs," Cheng told a
press conference.

Asked whether China would retaliate if Indonesia insisted on
imposing safeguard sanctions, Cheng said that the delegation had
a good and friendly discussion with its Indonesian counterpart,
therefore he believed the government would come up with a good
and reasonable solution.

The delegation, consisting of Chinese trade officials and
industry players, met with officials from the Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of Trade, the Indonesian Trade Safeguard
Committee (KPPI) and the Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee
(KADI).

China presented an argument that ceramic imports from China
had not resulted in serious injury to Indonesian industry, while
Chinese flour only held less than 3 percent market share.

However, representatives from the China Ceramic Industrial
Association and flour producer association said that if Indonesia
imposed the sanctions, they would urge their government to
retaliate.

The associations threatened that they would file a petition to
impose anti-dumping measures on Indonesian ceramics or on other
commodities such as crude palm oil (CPO).

The government in January imposed higher tariffs of 30 percent
on imported ceramic tableware from China in the expectation that
it would temporarily stem surging imports.

KPPI recommended early this month that the government
safeguard the industry by imposing additional tariffs for three
years, as surging imports had dealt a blow to the local industry.

The recommendation is based on an investigation that showed
the ceramic imports surged almost three and half times from
11,603 tons in 1999 to 40,018 tons in 2003.

KPPI started its investigation in October, in response to
petitions from local industry players complaining that the
industry had been losing out to cheap imports, mostly from China.

Indonesian Ceramics Industry Association (Asaki)'s foreign
affairs director, Indra Kangean, claimed the industry used to
employ 20,000 workers directly, but now only employed 10,000.

Meanwhile, regarding the flour dumping case, KADI is still
conducting an investigation in response to local industry
complaints.