The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will impose a price cap on cement should retail prices hit P240 per bag in light of the delay in Tariff Commission hearings.
Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said he will enforce a suggested retail price (SRP) of P225 per bag on cement if proven the prevailing price of the commodity is now at P240 per bag. He vowed to look into the situation and verify the figures, as well as assess how the delay in Tariff Commission hearings could affect cement prices.
“Say, P240 per bag of cement is prevalent, then we come in [and reduce] it back to P220 per bag to P225 per bag,” Lopez said in an interview with reporters on Monday.
The Tariff Commission is investigating the merits of imposing a definitive safeguard measure against imported cement as endorsed by the DTI in January. Further, it is hearing the arguments of cement manufacturers and importers on whether there is a need to protect the local industry.
However, the tariff body last week decided to postpone public hearings from May 6 to 10, asking for more time to complete its plant visits and data verification.
Laban Konsyumer Inc. President Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said the delay in investigation will lead to the extended implementation of the safeguard duty on cement. Without an SRP in place, he argued, cement producers can take advantage of the situation and jack up prices at their will.
“Laban Konsyumer feared then [the safeguard duty] could be used to increase prices, coupled with [the] DTI’s inaction on their own order to set SRP,” Dimagiba told the BusinessMirror.
He claimed some stores in Metro Manila are selling cement at P240 per bag, and argued this should be enough reason to impose an SRP on the commodity. Dimagiba warned his group will report trade officials to the Anti-Red Tape Authority over their supposed inaction to put a price cap.
Under Department Administrative Order 19-02, the DTI slapped a safeguard duty of P210 per metric ton on cement, effective for a period of 200 days starting February 9, on complaints from cement manufacturers they were seriously injured by the surge in imports from 2013 to 2017.
Market share of imports rose to 15 percent in 2017, from 0.02 percent in 2013, according to the DTI. Moreover, sales of the local industry reportedly declined 12 percent, or P11.1 billion, as local players were compelled to reduce prices by nearly 10 percent to compete with imports.