DTI eases stance on ceramic tiles importation issue

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will no longer insist on imposing tariff on imported ceramic tiles, which would have protected the country’s largest ceramic tile producer against overseas competition for years to come.

The Tariff Commission­ ­thumbed down earlier this month the petition filed by Mariwasa Siam Ceramics Inc., which sought a safeguard measure against imported ceramic tiles. Safeguard measures are imposed to protect domestic industries, which were either hurt or threatened by a surge in imports for a specific number of years.

It was this alleged serious injury that prompted the DTI, back in May, to impose a provisional tariff worth P3 per kilogram on imported ceramic floor and wall tiles.

The DTI justified the provisional tariff by saying that the increase in imports in recent years “caused serious injury to the domestic industry.”

Both the DTI and the commission investigated the market’s performance from 2013 to 2017. While the DTI saw a surge in imports that harmed the industry, the Tariff Commission said there was no increase in the first place. “There was no increase in imports of ceramic floor and wall tiles, both in absolute terms and relative to domestic production during the period of investigation. Total imports of ceramic floor and wall tiles only increased in 2014 and stabilized thereafter,” the commission said in its summary report. Thus, the Tariff Commission told the DTI that there should not be any definitive safeguard measure on imported ceramic tiles. It was a recommendation that the DTI could either approve or reject.

When asked for comment, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a recent interview that the DTI would not contest the decision of the tariff commission. The DTI, however, will focus on the compliance of both producers and importers to the country’s standards for ceramic tiles.

According to the DTI preliminary report on the safeguard measure, there used to be four local ceramic tile producers in the market in 2013. But the number has dwindled to two companies—Mariwasa (which accounts for 86 percent of production) and Formosa Ceramic Tiles Manufacturing Corp. The two other local producers either closed shop or had shifted to importation.