Smuggling claims irk Turkish flour importers

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine-Turkish Business Council on Thursday cried foul over the smuggling allegations made against Turkish flour importers.

Reports of such claims surfaced following the imposition by the Department of Agriculture of anti-dumping duties on Turkish flour imports, the council said in a statement.

Ernesto Chua, chair of the Philippine-Turkish Business Council, pointed out that Turkish flour importers are legitimate business owners who duly pay their taxes to the Philippine government. These importers are paying some P1.5 billion in tariff duties when importing Turkish flour, an ingredient used to produce flour-based food products such as bread, biscuits and noodles, he added.

Local flour millers, in contrast, do not pay any tariff on the wheat that they import from the US and process into flour, Chua further said.

“To insinuate that Turkish flour importers would resort to technical smuggling of this raw material after the DA issued a preliminary determination is uncalled for. These businessmen follow the law when importing the Turkish flour that they supply to thousands of community bakeries and other backyard industries that are dependent on affordable raw materials,” said Chua, who is also the president of Malabon Long Life Trading Corp., one of the biggest importers of Turkish flour in the country.

It can be recalled that the DA slapped a provisional anti-dumping duty on Turkish flour imports, on top of the existing 7-percent duty. For hard flour, a 35-percent antidumping duty will be imposed and 35.21 percent on soft flour.

Chua emphasized that the technical smuggling allegations were unfair not only for the lawful importers but also for the Philippine Bureau of Customs.