The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry issued preliminary findings on the safeguard investigation on cement products ...

- Products under investigation: cement under HS codes 2523.29.90 and 2523.90.00.

- Investigation period: from 2019 to June 2024.

- Investigation process: After issuing the notice of initiation of investigation on October 31, 2024, DTI sent questionnaires to relevant parties including Vietnamese exporting enterprises. Among the known foreign exporters, 05 named Vietnamese companies submitted questionnaire responses to DTI.

Accordingly, DTI preliminarily concluded that during the period 2019 to 2024, the volume of imports of the investigated product increased both in absolute and relative terms compared to the production output of the industry; at the same time, there was a causal relationship between the increase in imports of the investigated product and serious injury to the Philippine domestic industry. In addition, DTI data showed that Vietnam's import market share in the Philippines accounted for the highest proportion, 94.4% in 2024 (up from 79.4% in 2019).

In addition, pursuant to Section 8 of RA8800, which provides that “in serious cases where delay is likely to cause irreparable injury and upon a preliminary determination that increased imports are the predominant cause of serious injury to the domestic industry,” a provisional safeguard measure in the form of a cash deposit of P400/MT (equivalent to approximately VND178,500/MT) or P16/40kg bag of cement (equivalent to approximately VND7,140/40kg bag) will be imposed while the case is formally investigated by the Tariff Commission. The period of application is 200 days from the date of issuance of the Tariff Order by the Philippine Bureau of Customs. Vietnam is not included in the list of excluded developing countries due to its significant imports into the Philippines.

Following this preliminary conclusion, the case will be referred to the Tariff Commission for a formal investigation to determine whether formal safeguard measures are necessary.

Download the Preliminary Conclusion report here.

For more information, please contact: Foreign Trade Remedies Handling Department, Trade Remedies Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade - 4th floor, 54 Hai Ba Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi. Officer in charge: Nguyen Thuy. Phone: 024.7303.7898 (extension 108). Mobile: 0904545869. Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/thong-bao/bo-thuong-mai-va-cong-nghiep-phi-lip-pin-ban-hanh-ket-luan-so-bo-dieu-tra-tu-ve-doi-voi-san-pham-xi-mang.html