Steel dumping probe to be completed soon
Steel dumping probe to be completed soon
JAKARTA (JP): The government's anti-dumping agency is expected
to complete its investigation into the alleged dumping practices
conducted by Japanese, Chinese and South Korean steel pipe
producers in Indonesia in one or two months, an association said
on Monday.
"The agency is doing a thorough investigation and the results
are expected to come in May or June," president of the Indonesian
Association of Steel Pipe Producers (GAPIPA) Murbiantoro
Soemantoro said at a press conference.
The Indonesian Anti-Dumping Committee (KADI) began
investigating the dumping charges after receiving a petition from
GAPIPA in August of last year.
GAPIPA complained that its members had lost out to steel
producers from the three nations because of their dumping
practices.
It called on the government to impose anti-dumping duty on the
steel pipe imports from all three countries.
"We hope the government will protect local producers from
these dumping practices. We just want to compete in a fair
market," Murbiantoro said during the press conference.
He also stated that GAPIPA's members have lost most of the big
projects in the country due the unreasonably low prices for steel
pipes imported from Japan, China and South Korea.
According to Murbiantoro, the 16 GAPIPA's members had invested
US$1 billion in the country but some of them have stopped
operations due to their failure in competing against steel pipe
imports.
"If the steel pipe producers of the three foreign countries
are proved to have conducted dumping practices and the government
imposes an anti-dumping duty on them, we expect the local
production of steel pipe to rise by about 20 to 30 percent this
year," he said.
According to the association's data, the country's steel
industry produced 287,837 tons of steel pipe in 1999, as against
246,900 tons in 1998. Most of the output was used to make water
pipes, furniture, electricity poles.
Indonesia imported 259,235 tons of steel pipe last year to
fulfill the domestic demand which stood at 437,753 tons in 1999.
The association further said that Japanese steelmakers sold
their steel pipes in Indonesia for US$535 per ton, compared with
US$1,000 per ton sold by them in the domestic market.
The selling price for Chinese and South Korean steel pipe in
Indonesia was about 30 percent to 40 percent higher than what it
sold for in their home countries, the association added. (07)