Paper users ask the government to lift duties on paper imports

Paper users ask the government to lift duties on paper imports

JAKARTA (JP): Paper users want the government to lift duties
on paper imports to help them survive against the high prices set
by domestic paper monopolies.

"The government should lift tariffs on paper imports to force
domestic producers to lower prices to proper, more reasonable
levels," the chairman of a forum for paper users, Yoza Suryawan,
said in a hearing with Commission VI of the House of
Representatives (DPR) here yesterday.

The forum, set up last year, includes, among others, the
Association of Indonesian Publishers, the Association of
Indonesian Newspaper Publishers and the Indonesian Printing
Company Association (PPGI).

PPGI's chairman, H.M. Fauzi Lubis, said high paper prices on
the domestic market has caused most paper-based companies to go
bankrupt.

"Out of the country's 100 notebook manufacturers, only nine
are still operating," he pointed out.

Paper imports are subject to duties of up to 30 percent of its
price.

Aspertaskom Chairman Untung Sastrawijaya said the high tariffs
have encouraged domestic paper producers to increase their sales
prices to levels similar to the price of imports plus duties,
even though their production costs are the lowest in the world.

Indonesia's paper production costs are estimated at US$285 per
ton, far lower than $429 in Canada and $485 in Scandinavian
countries, he said.

"Indonesia's paper producers, therefore, need no protection
from the government," he stated.

Untung said the protection has only benefited paper producers,
which are commonly big companies which feel little obligation to
price their commodities realistically. (02)