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The Bureau of Customs has issued a memorandum confirming the continued imposition of anti-dumping duties on imported cement from Vietnam until 2027 for the protection of the domestic industry
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The five-year safeguard tax, which started in 2023, was ordered by the Department of Trade and Industry as recommended by the Tariff Commission
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It applies to ordinary Portland cement type 1 and blended cement type 1P
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Exception applies to the re-computed dumping margins of NCL Trading Joint Stock Company and Vissai Ninh Binh JSC
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Exporters with de minimis or negative dumping margins are excluded
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The TC concluded that dumping continues to be an imminent threat to the local industry and that “lifting the anti-dumping duty will exacerbate the situation”
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has issued a memorandum confirming the continued imposition of anti-dumping duties on imported cement from Vietnam until 2027 for the protection of the domestic industry.
The import tax applies to individual exporters or the “all others” rate imposed on ordinary Portland cement type 1 (AHTN 2017/2022 Subheading No. 2523.29.90) and blended cement type 1P (AHTN 2017/2022 Subheading No. 2523.90.00) from Vietnam, according to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Administrative Order (DAO) No. 25-13.
Exception applies to the re-computed dumping margins of NCL Trading Joint Stock Company and Vissai Ninh Binh JSC.
The continued imposition of safeguard duty, which started in 2023, was based on the recommendation of the Tariff Commission (TC), which concluded that dumping continues to be an imminent threat to the local industry.
The imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties on Vietnam cement imports is enforced under DAO No. No. 23-01, issued in 2023 and implemented through BOC Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 05-2023.
READ: BOC applies anti-dumping duties on Vietnam cement
Under DAO No. 23-01, the anti-dumping duty rates vary per individual exporter/trader depending on the dumping margin it makes from the price per metric ton of its commodity that it exports to the Philippines.
The “all others” rates, meanwhile, are applied to foreign exporters who did not make themselves known to the TC, did not cooperate sufficiently during the formal investigation, and new foreign exporters who have not exported the subject cement to the Philippines during the period of investigation.
Exporters with de minimis or negative dumping margins as indicated in DAO No. 23-01 are excluded from the imposition of anti-dumping duty.
The newer DAO No. 25-13 took effect following the issuance of CMO No. 262-2025 on December 2 by Customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno.
In its final report on the interim review on the anti-dumping duty imposed against cement imports from Vietnam, the TC said the imposition of anti-dumping duty achieved its intended results by preventing and/or alleviating the dumping of the covered cement types.
However, it noted that while the dumping duty was effective, it “did not completely deter dumping since the circumstances with respect to dumping have not changed significantly, i.e., dumping continues to exist.”
During the period of investigation, TC said imports continued to enter the Philippines at prices below their normal value.
Exporters NCL and Vissai Ninh Binh were calculated with positive margins of dumping that were only slightly lower than their margins under the original investigation in 2022 and their volumes of imports for ordinary portland cement Type 1 were not negligible.
Imports of ordinary portland cement Type 1 and blended cement Type 1P subject to anti-dumping duty, while declining from 2022 to 2024 and thus indicative that the duty is deterring and alleviating dumping, continued to enter the Philippines in volumes that were likewise not negligible.
TC said there is a high likelihood that dumping will continue or recur if the anti-dumping duty is lifted.
“Dumping continues to exist and lifting the anti-dumping duty will exacerbate the situation,” it added.
Moreover, TC said the Philippines’ open market, geographical proximity to Vietnam, and status as a top export market with established distribution channels combined with Vietnam being the top foreign supplier of cement to the Philippine market will encourage the continuation or recurrence of dumping once the anti-dumping duty is lifted.
“If the duty is lifted, it is highly likely that those Vietnamese exporters which had exited the Philippine market due to their inability to compete at their normal prices would resume their dumping of subject cement products,” TC said.
Prior to DAO No. 23-01, DTI in December 2022 through DAO 22-17 ordered the imposition of safeguard duty after the TC, in its formal investigation, “established that the threat of material injury to the domestic cement industry is imminent in the near future from dumped imports from Viet Nam”.
As a result, DTI ordered that anti-dumping duties be imposed on imports of ordinary Portland cement type 1 and blended cement type 1P originating and exported from Vietnam for a period of five years.
The investigation stemmed from an application filed in April 2021 by CEMEX Holdings Philippines (Solid Cement Corp. and APO Cement Corp.), Holcim Philippines Inc., and Republic Cement and Building Materials Inc.
These companies alleged that Vietnam was dumping Type 1 and Type 1P cement in the Philippines, causing material injury to the domestic cement industry.
DTI, acting under Republic Act No. 8752 or the Anti-Dumping Act of 1992, said it had reviewed evidence provided by the local cement producers and “determined the existence of sufficient evidence to justify the initiation of an investigation.”
READ: DTI to impose safeguard duty on imported cement for 3 years
