Businesses need to coordinate with the Philippines in investigating cement safeguard tax

During the upcoming official investigation phase of the Philippines' imposition of safeguard tariffs on cement, Vietnamese businesses need to cooperate in providing information to the investigation agency to avoid being given unfavorable decisions.

Businesses need to coordinate with the Philippines in investigating cement safeguard tax

During the upcoming official investigation phase of the Philippines' imposition of safeguard tariffs on cement, Vietnamese businesses need to cooperate in providing information to the investigation agency to avoid being given unfavorable decisions.

Philippines imposes safeguard tax on imported cement, Vietnamese enterprises need to coordinate to provide timely information.

Philippine authorities recently decided to apply a temporary safeguard tax of 400 Pesos/ton (equivalent to 6.90 USD/ton) on two types of imported cement to protect the domestic cement industry.

Specifically, under Order No. 25-01, the Philippines initiated a safeguard investigation on two types of cement imported from several countries, including portland cement and blended cement under the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHNT).

The investigation is conducted on the two types of imported cement mentioned above in the period 2019 - 2024.

Pursuant to the Act of this country and based on the evidence collected and information provided by the relevant parties, after the preliminary investigation, the Philippines has decided to apply a temporary safeguard duty of 400 pesos/ton or 16 pesos/40 kg bag on cement types with codes AHNT Code 2523.29.90 and AHNT Code 2523.90.00 during the time the Philippine Tax Commission conducts an official investigation.

The temporary safeguard duty will be applied for a period of 200 days from the date the Philippine Bureau of Customs issues the Duty Order. The Ministry of Industry and Trade lists countries and territories exempted from the temporary safeguard duty, but Vietnam is not included in the list of exempted countries.

The Commercial Counselor of the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines said that according to the investigation report, during the preliminary investigation, the Philippine Ministry of Industry and Trade identified the identities of 33 enterprises exporting cement to the Philippine market, including Vietnamese enterprises.

It is known that the Philippine Ministry of Trade and Industry sent a questionnaire, however, only 9/33 exporting enterprises responded to the questionnaire, including 6 Vietnamese exporting enterprises.

In the preliminary investigation report released by the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, every year, Vietnamese cement accounts for the largest market share in the total cement imported into the Philippines.

Specifically, in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, Vietnam's cement exports to this market were 4.23 million tons, 5.37 million tons, 6.38 million tons, 6.34 million tons, 6.87 million tons and 7.20 million tons, respectively, accounting for market shares of 79.41%, 91.41%, 92.59%, 94.76%, 98.09% and 94.40% of the total amount of cement imported by the Philippines.

With the data as stated in the report, the Philippines' temporary imposition of self-defense tax on imported cement will significantly affect Vietnam's cement exports.

To minimize unnecessary losses, the Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines recommends that during the upcoming official investigation phase conducted by the Tax Commission, Vietnamese export enterprises should pay attention to coordinating and providing information to the investigation agency to avoid the case where the investigation agency makes unfavorable decisions based on incomplete information or information that they have available.

The main content of the safeguard investigation is that the investigating agency considers and assesses the level of "serious damage" to the domestic manufacturing industry due to the impact of imported cement.

Therefore, there is a need for a representative of cement industry enterprises to organize enterprises to review together, provide information and have a common voice with the Philippine investigation agency in reviewing and analyzing the actual "serious damages", and the causal relationship between these damages and the increase in the volume of imported cement.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/doanh-nghiep-can-phoi-hop-dieu-tra-voi-philippines-ve-thue-tu-ve-xi-mang-d250856.html