Government bans used truck imports

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has issued a decree, effective Jan. 1, to ban the importation of used trucks weighing more than 24 tons.

Director of imports at the ministry Aang Kanaan Adikusumah told The Jakarta Post that the decree, dated Dec. 31, 2003, aimed to promote national production.

Used assets, such as trucks, machines or forklifts, were once allowed to be imported under a 1997 ministerial decree. In November 2002, the ministry issued another decree to prohibit the importation of trucks weighing below 24 tons, but allowed the import of those above 24 tons.

"We are now stopping the importation of trucks over 24 tons as they are now already widely produced by our national manufacturers," he said.

In 2003, about 4,000 trucks weighing more than 24 tons entered the nation from Japan, Singapore, Europe and Australia, according to Aang.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers (Gaikindo) Bambang Trisulo praised the new policy, saying it would do the national automotive industry good.

He said that in the past, despite a regulation that banned imports of used trucks below 24 tons, many unscrupulous importers could bring such trucks into the country, by lying to custom officials that the trucks weighed more than 24 tons.

Thus, with the new decree, Bambang expected that the importers could not use the same ploy to bring in trucks below 24 tons.

"About 7,000 used trucks below 24 tons enter the country annually, despite a prohibition by the government," he said.

Most come in via Batam and Sabang.

Bambang acknowledged that a used truck was normally cheaper by Rp 100 million (US$11,780 million) than a new one, but in the long term, it cost the nation and buyers more.

"The importation of used vehicles will only produce a short- term profit for importers but not for the industry itself. Apart from causing much pollution, used vehicles have higher maintenance costs. Furthermore, it damages the national automotive industry," he said.

According to Bambang, most used trucks imported into the country were at least six years old.