Higher antidumping duties urged for Japanese steel
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Association of Steel Pipe Producers (Gapipa) has asked the Indonesian Antidumping Committee (KADI) to impose higher antidumping duties against Japanese welded steel pipes.
The association said here on Monday that the countervailing duties against the Japanese welded steel pipes should be set at 81 percent.
"All the importation of Japanese welded pipes are subject to 81 percent duties," the association's vice chairman Abbas Soeriawidjaya told the press.
The antidumping duties of between five percent and 81 percent were imposed by the committee early this month against welded steel pipes from Japan and Singapore.
The countervailing duties affected several Japanese welded pipe producers, including Kawasaki, Marubeni, Nippon Steel, NKK and Sumitomo, with antidumping charges of 12 percent, 51 percent, 5 percent, 81 percent and 54 percent respectively.
Abbas said that the antidumping duties should be set at a single rate of 81 percent because, with the current difference in rates, producers of welded steel pipes subject to the higher rates could market their products through pipe companies which are paying lower import duties.
The association also urged the government to impose a 78 percent import duty to all welded steel pipes imported from Singapore.
The antidumping duties are only temporary and will be effective for four months from the issuance of the decree by the Finance Ministry on July 12.
The decree came following petitions lodged by local steelmakers against producers from Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.
No duties were imposed on China and South Korean steelmakers as KADI failed to find strong evidence to support the dumping allegations.
Abbas, however, said the association had strong evidence to prove the two countries' dumping practices.
"We know they have been shipping their steel through Singapore and have sold the stuff here at a price 40 percent cheaper than the price offered by local producers," he said.
He said the association expected KADI to continue the investigation and impose antidumping duties of at least 40 percent on steelmakers from China and South Korea.
While Indonesia is imposing antidumping duties on foreign companies, the country's own steelmakers, including state-owned firm Krakatau Steel, are currently facing dumping accusations from the United States.
Krakatau Steel president Soetrisno did not say whether or not the company had practiced the dumping of its exports on America, but said his firm had been cutting back shipments to America to avoid unexpected inflictions.
Indonesia's output of steel pipes reached 287,000 metric tons last year, higher than the 246,000 metric tons produced in 1998, but still way below the pre-crisis record of around 400,000 metric tons.
Gapipa predicted that total output this year would reach about 300,000 metric tons. (cst)