Indonesia slaps antidumping duty between 4% and 68% in tin plates
Indonesia slaps antidumping duty between 4% and 68% in tin plates
JAKARTA (JP): The government has decided to impose anti-
dumping duties ranging between four to 68 percent on tin plates
imported from Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Ministry of Finance set the import surcharge on the
imports of tin plates from BHP Steel and other Australian
companies at 16.7 percent.
It also imposed a 68 percent import duty on all imports of tin
plates from Japanese companies and 41 percent on tin plates
imported from Taiwanese companies.
Import duty on tin plates from South Korea's Dong Bu is set at
4 percent, Dong Yang at 6.5 percent and Posco Steel at 4.6
percent. Import duty on other South Korean companies is set at
6.5 percent.
The anti-dumping duty imposed on imports of tin plates from
Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan was stipulated in
Minister of Finance Decree No. 149/KMK.01/1999, issued on April
30.
According to the decree, the ruling would be effective for
five years starting Jan. 18. It could be reviewed after 12 months
of implementation.
The anti-dumping ruling was prompted by a request from PT
Pelat Timah Nusantara (Latinusa), which complained that
competitors from the four countries sold their products in
Indonesia at unfair market prices.
Latinusa, the only local tin plate manufacturer, is 95 percent
owned by state-owned steel maker PT Krakatau Steel with the
remaining 5 percent controlled by Nusamba Foundation, a business
group related to former president Soeharto.
To follow up the complaints, the government imposed the
temporary countervailing duties on Jan. 18 of up to 68 percent
against tin plates imported from the four countries.
The duties were effective until the investigation held by the
Indonesia Anti-dumping Commitee (KADI) decided in April whether
or not the companies of the four countries were involved in
dumping their products here.
KADI said the temporary anti-dumping duties were imposed to
prevent further losses during the investigation period.
The drive was objected by the Association of Indonesian Can
Producers (APKKI) which said imposing high import duties were
unfair because they protected Latinusa at the expense of other
industries.
The high import surcharge would not only hurt can producers
but also related downstream industries such as canned food and
beverage producers, the association said.
The association's members preferred imported tin plates
because Latinusa -- the only tin plate producer in the country --
sold its products not only at a high price but also were a low
quality, APKKI said.
The decree states, however, the committee's investigations
found positive evidence the four countries dumped their tin plate
products here, causing great losses to the domestic industry.
(gis)