Govt told to curb paper dumping practices
Govt told to curb paper dumping practices
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The local paper industry has demanded the government take
immediate action against alleged dumping practices by paper
manufacturers from Finland, South Korea, India and Malaysia.
The Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association said the countries
had flooded the market with their paper products, which would
seriously damage the local industry if the government did not act
quickly.
The association, spearheaded by three paper and pulp giants --
PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper, PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia and PT
Pindo Deli Pulp & Paper Mills -- demanded the Ministry of Trade
and Industry launch anti-dumping measures against coated and
uncoated printing and writing paper products from the countries.
Foreign companies which have been accused of dumping their
products here are Stora Enso and UPM Kyemmne (from Finland);
Hansol, Shin Moorim and Shin Ho (South Korea); TNPL and Shashi
Shahi (India); and Sabah Forest (Malaysia).
The paper association had previously appealed to the
Indonesian Anti Dumping Commission (KADI) to launch an
investigation into the practices.
According to the association, if immediate action was not
taken, the domestic paper industries would suffer seriously in
the future.
The association claimed that heavily dumped imports had
increased steadily. Last year, dumped coated paper imports
increased by a staggering 1,100 percent, it said.
Besides the loss of sales volume and market share to the
imports, the domestic paper industry had had to reduce its prices
to compete, which reduced profitability.
"The domestic paper industry has reduced the price by up to
seven percent," said Suresh Kilam, the deputy chairman of the
association, in a press conference here.
The domestic paper industry has already seen the cessation of
coated paper production by one of its members in 2001 due to the
unfair competition from dumped imports, the association said.
According to Suresh, the dumping practices were evident by the
low price of paper that the foreign manufacturers offered on the
Indonesian market, while at the same time, they sold their
products at higher prices in their own countries.
"They sell their products at prices of between US$700 to $800
per ton at their home markets, while they sell it here at around
$500 per ton," Suresh quoted was quoted by Antara as saying.
The situation faced by the domestic paper industry was
aggravated by the government policy, which imposed no tariffs on
imported paper, he said.
This was not fair, because other Southeast Asia countries such
as Thailand and The Philippines still imposed five percent
tariffs on imported paper to protect local industries, he said.