Government told to impose antidumping duties on flour

Government told to impose antidumping duties on flour

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives urged the government to immediately
impose antidumping duties on flour products from Europe,
Australia, and the United Arab Emirates to protect local
producers.

The demand was made during a hearing session between the House
Commission V overseeing trade and industry affairs and the
Indonesian Wheat and Flour Producers Association (APTINDO).

"We want the government to quickly impose antidumping
duties ... to protect local flour producers," commission chairman
Ismangun Notonegoro said.

The country's flour producers are PT Bogasari Flour Mills, PT
Sriboga Ratu Raya, PT Pangan Mas, and PT Berdikari.

The Indonesian Antidumping Committee (Kadi) late last year
proposed a plan to impose antidumping duties of between 5 to 35
percent from zero percent on flour products from the above
countries, but the plan was canceled by Minister of Industry and
Trade Rini Soewandi because of high demand at home in the run up
to end-of-year festivities.

The giant Bogasari, which is a unit of the publicly-listed
instant noodle maker PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, has been the most
aggressive in complaining of dumping practices by the overseas
flour producers.

Bogasari's market share at home had declined to 70 percent
last year from almost 90 percent previously.

Phillip S. Purnama, senior vice president of Bogasari, said
that any delay in the anti-dumping measures would only encourage
other overseas flour producers especially from India and China to
flood the local market.