By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat Cement manufacturers said the argument of cement traders that the Tariff Commission (TC) erred in its computation in coming up with a higher definitive safeguard measure against imported cement was flawed. In fact, the group said, the more appropriate safeguard duty should be P18-P20 per bag of imported cement, not P12. In a statement, the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) defended the TC’s decision to recommend P297 per metric ton or P12 per bag of 40-kilogram permanent duty on imported cement, which is higher by P3.60 per bag than the P8.40 per bag provisional safeguard imposed by the Department of Trade and Industry in February this year to counter the serious injury the surge in cement imports have cause to the domestic cement manufacturers. In its decision, the TC based its computation on the difference of the weighted average landed cost (P3,578) of imported cement as against the average domestic cement’s average ex-plant selling price of (P3,875), thus the price difference of P297 per metric ton or P12 per 4-kilogram bag. However, traders contend that the figures used were not comparable. They said that TC should have used as comparison the ex-warehouse price of the importers and the ex-plant price of local integrated cement manufacturers. Traders explained that they incur as much as $6-$8 per ton or P408 per bag in additional cost from warehousing, hauling, security, electricity among others. So, the price difference should not have been P297 per metric ton but higher based on the estimated additional P408 per ton cost of importers, erasing the supposed cost advantage enjoyed by importers. CeMAP, however, said that the proper comparison in determining the amount of safeguard duty should be the price between the domestic industries’ ex-warehouse price versus the exporting countries’ warehouse price, not the imports’ landed cost. CeMAP President Renato Sunico explained that this is a better computation because the safeguard measure is on a per country basis. It is not a duty on the importers, but the exporters or the source of the product. “Our comparison is also the warehouse price of the exporters as against our own warehouse price, not the ex-warehouse of the importers because the duty is on the importing country,” Sunico explained. “The threat to the domestic industry is not the importers but the manufacturers of these imports,” CeMAP further said. One of the reasons for the safeguard measure, he said, is to give time for the local manufacturers to expand capacity. CeMAP also insinuated of something “fishy” going in with the traders and challenged them to open up their books to show their true cost to the TC. "(They) have not filed any affidavit and have just resorted to rhetoric or anecdotes,” the cement manufacturers said noting that the TC has asked the traders to file an affidavit but they never did. Should this be the case, CeMAP said that its recommended P18 to P20 per bag definitive duty should be more idea; recommendation of the industry to push for at least P18 to P20 definitive safeguard duty for imported cement may be more favorable to curb dumping of the construction commodity from other countries and avert the surge in imports that have already been apparent in the recent months.