Freight and Trading Weekly, 19 May 2015
By Staff Reporter
Provisional anti-dumping duties have been imposed on Portland cement originating in, or imported from, Pakistan effective since May 15.
This follows an investigation initiated by the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) on August 22 last year after a number of local cement producing companies submitted an application on behalf of the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) cement producers.
The local producers – which included Afrisam, Lafarge Industries South Africa, NPC Cimpor and PPC Limited – established a prima facie case that convinced Itac to initiate an investigation on the basis of dumping, material injury, threat of material injury and causality, said an Itac spokesperson.
“During the investigation, the interested parties had an opportunity to make comments and submit the information they deemed crucial for the investigation. They also made oral representations to the commission,” said Foster Mohale, manager: communication services at Itac.
According to him, the commission found that the Sacu industry was suffering material injury through a decline in sales volume and output as well as profits and cash flow. “The industry also experienced price undercutting and price suppression,” said Mohale.
He added that Itac had further found that a threat of material injury existed given that Pakistan had increased its production capacity. “Pakistan’s exports to its traditional markets were declining and imports from Pakistan into the Sacu region increased by over 600% between 2010 and 2013,” commented Mohale.
Itac therefore made a preliminary determination that Portland cement originating in, or imported from, Pakistan was dumped into the Sacu market, causing material injury to the Sacu industry.
Thus, in order to prevent further injury to the industry while the investigation is under way, the Commission has requested the South African Revenue Service to impose the provisional measures on imported Portland cement originating from Pakistan for a period of six months.
Provisional duties range from as high as 77.1% to as low as 14.2% - depending on the brand of cement.