THE Tariff Commission (TC)said that it is not recommending the imposition of safeguard duties on imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) steel cylinders.
In a report, the TC ruled there was no need to impose safeguard duties in the absence of any serious threat to domestic competitors.
Under the Safeguard Measures Act or Republic Act 8800, tariffs may be raised to aid Philippine industries affected by an undue increase in imports.
The TC has been investigating the safeguard duty application since December.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had sought the imposition of safeguard duties against imported LPG steel cylinders, in support of an application filed by Ferrotech Steel Corp.
The company said that imports of LPG steel cylinders between 2017 and 2021 had surged, affecting Philippine manufacturers.
“LPG steel cylinders were imported into the Philippines in increased quantities relative to domestic production. The increase in the volumes of imports relative to domestic production can be considered recent, sudden, sharp and significant enough,” the TC said.
In its application the companies were proposing a 10 years of safeguard measures on such imports.
Ferrosteel and another company, FSC Metal Corp. represent about 92% of total domestic production of LPG steel cylinders, according to the DTI.
The TC said after investigation, it found no threat to local industry.
“In the absence of a positive determination of serious injury or threat thereof, neither can the causal relationship between increased imports of LPG steel cylinder and serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry be established,” it added. — Adrian H. Halili
