Flour producer PT Sriboga Raturaya has threatened the government that it may relocate to Australia because of a prolonged decision to impose punitive tariffs on Turkey flour despite the completion of dumping investigations.
Sriboga had expressed its disappointment by saying it would shut down its factory here and build one in Australia, where there was an abundant supply of raw materials (wheat), and continue selling its product on the Indonesian market, Indonesian Flour Producers Association (Aptindo) executive director Ratna Sari Loppies said Thursday.
“They feel it has been hard for them to ask for protection from the government, even though the protection they are seeking is against unfairness,” she said.
According to Aptindo records, Sriboga and two other local flour producers, PT Eastern Pearl FM and PT Panganmas, filed a petition of dumping allegations, concerning flour imported from Turkey, Sri Lanka and Australia, to the Indonesian Antidumping Committee (KADI) on Oct. 16, 2008.
However, the case has focused more on flour from Turkey.
Antidumping measures, usually in the form of additional import duties, are applied to counter dumping, while dumping is an act by a country’s manufacturer to sell products exported to another country at prices below those charged in the home country or below production costs, thus impacting local manufacturers in the receiving country.
The three petitioners represent 25.3 percent of total local production, Aptindo says.
Sriboga alone controls a 5 percent share of the domestic flour market, with domestic demand amounting to 3.9 million tons per year, Ratna said.
According to Aptindo, the antidumping committee, which began its investigation on Nov. 17, 2008, released the results of its probe on Dec. 28, 2009.
In its investigation, the committee found that Turkey had dumped its flour with a margin - the price difference between what is charged in the country of origin and the export destination - of between 19.67 and 21.98 percent, Aptindo says.
Aptindo found that flour imported from Australia, Sri Lanka and Turkey were 25.5 percent, 38.5 percent and 51.51 percent cheaper than the same products sold in their domestic markets.
KADI promptly submitted a recommendation to the Finance Ministry to impose punitive tariffs on dumped flour, but no decision had been made so far, Ratna said.
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