RI shoe industry shaken by EU dumping case

RI shoe industry shaken by EU dumping case

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian companies may lose about US$400
million in export revenue next year with the European Union's
expected countervailing duties on Indonesia's shoe exports
because of dumping there, the Indonesian Footwear Association
said yesterday.

Association vice chairman Anton J. Supit said an investigating
team from the European Union had concluded that about 14 footwear
companies in Indonesia had dumped their products on the European
market.

The team, which sent a fact-finding mission to Indonesia last
year, concluded that the 14 companies, which produced six kinds
of shoes with textile or leather and synthetic uppers, had
practiced dumping since 1990.

The team has recommended that the European Union impose
countervailing duties of between 2.1 percent and 31.7 percent on
their products sold in Europe.

Import duties on shoes sold in Europe are now about 23
percent.

The team recommended that other companies, making similar
products, which refused to be investigated last year, be subject
to 50 percent countervailing duties, according to Anton.

The European Union antidumping commission will decide whether
to introduce the duties recommended by the team next month.

Indonesian footwear exports are projected to be worth about
$2.8 billion in 1997, about 40 percent of which will be sold to
Europe. About 40 percent of the exports to Europe consist of
shoes with textile uppers and shoes with leather or synthetic
uppers.

Anton said that aside from Indonesia, the European Union team
had accused several footwear companies in China and Thailand of
dumping, and called for similar penalties against them.

The association's members met yesterday at the Millennium
Hotel to work out a strategy to cope with the dumping accusation.

Anton said the association had hired a team of international
lawyers to defend Indonesian footwear exporters during the
European Union antidumping commission's hearings. The Indonesian
government is lobbying strongly to try to prevent the imposition
of the countervailing duties.

Anton regretted that many Indonesian footwear companies had
refused to meet the team on the assumption that evading its
investigations would protect them from dumping charges.

"Some other companies rejected the team of investigation
because they had bad accounting reports," Anton added.

"Now they will also have to pay on average 50 percent in
countervailing duties simply because they refused to be
investigated by the team," he said.

Anton asked all the association's members to assist dumping
investigations by importing countries.

"Today, global competition is so tight that some countries use
dumping charges to protect their interests. We have to face it
properly and legally. Don't be afraid," he said. (jsk)