PHL to slap heavy tariff on imported paperboards

The Philippines will impose a specific duty on imported testliner boards — paper-based boards used in packaging a number of goods — to protect the interests of local manufacturers. The Tariff Commission recommended a tariff duty of P1,342 per metric ton after a two-month study it conducted last year, and as lobbied by local firms led by the United Pulp and Paper Co. Inc (UPPC). The umbrella group of testliner board importers, the Containerboard Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CMAP), has objected to the plan since May last year. After its probe, the three-man Tariff Commission concluded that imported testliner boards inflicted “serious injury" on the local variety, even as the latter dominates 63 percent of the market. The commission considers the specific duty as a “definitive safeguard measure." Importers’ group CMAP, on the other hand, argued that local makers of testliner boards posted significant production increases and reported growing profits in the same years when their business was supposedly hurt by imports of the same product. “Domestic sales value for testliners increased by 5.9 percent in 2005, 17.6 percent in 2007 and 6.8 percent in 2008 notwithstanding that there was an import surge," CMAP said. The group also said their local counterpart, the UPPC, submitted audited financial statements showing that gross profits rose 4.1 percent to P166.9 million in 2008, yet claimed having incurred gross losses of 3.89 percent for testliners. — PE/VS, GMANews.TV