Wire producers to try again for tariffs

The Indonesia Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA) is filing a second petition with the Indonesian Trade Security Committee (KPPI) for temporary tariffs on Chinese wire imports.

IISIA head of nail and wire cluster Ario N. Setiantoro said Friday he would submit the petition by the end of October at the latest, on behalf of at least 10 domestic wire producers.

“We admit that the first time we proposed tariffs on imports of Chinese wire, along with nails, there were only three or four [affected] factories hoping to benefit, and the data we submitted was insufficient,” he told The Jakarta Post.

“So we had to accept the fact that our petition was dropped.

“But that hasn’t necessarily ended our opportunity to file another one,” he added.

Ario said an article in a 2002 presidential decree on measures taken to save domestic industries from potential or ongoing losses caused by a jump in imports would justify the petition.

He said the article allowed for the then industry and trade minister, under “urgent circumstances”, to recommend a temporary safeguard to the finance minister, without having to conduct a 200-day investigation required under normal procedures.

“This way, a safeguard can be imposed faster,” he said.

A safeguard measure is a mechanism under the World Trade Organization, which allows governments to protect specific home industries from the negative impacts of a spike in imports of any products causing serious damage to a domestic industry that produces directly competing products, by imposing high additional fees.