“We want the government to seek justice in our trade relations with Turkey,” Franky said during the press briefing.

According to the Indonesian Trade Ministry, Turkey has imposed antidumping and safeguard duties ranging from 5 to 33 percent on 58 Indonesian products, including woven fabrics, apparel, foot wear, bicycle and motorcycle tires, pipe fittings, hinges and furniture components.

Dumping is when an exporter sells their products in a country at a price that is lower than the local production cost or selling price in the destination market. Safeguard duties are temporary additional import duties aimed at protecting domestic producers from unfair competition from cheaper imported goods.

Indonesian Textile Association chairman Ade Sudrajat said that the duties had made textile products uncompetitive in Turkey, which he added was an important gateway for Indonesian goods to both Eastern and Western Europe.

“We are losing our markets because of the higher costs that we should pay. The additional duties to the previous 6.4 percent duty have pushed up our prices there,” he said.

Ade cited unprocessed polyester synthetic staple fibers as an example, which had been slapped with an anti-dumping duty ranging from 6.2 to 12 percent, and woven fabrics and apparels, which were subject to safeguard duties of 18 to 27 percent.

Ade said the anti-dumping and surcharge duties imposed by the Turkish government ran against the global trade practices of the World Trade Organization.

Separately, Indonesian Flour Mills Association (Aptindo) executive director Ratna Sari Loppies urged the government to impose anti-dumping duties on Turkish flour as recommended by the Anti Dumping Committee of Indonesia (KADI).

After an in-depth investigation, KADI recommended in 2009 that anti-dumping duties of between 19.67 and 21.99 percent be imposed on all types of wheat flour imported from Turkey.

However, the punitive tariffs were not implemented.

“We estimate that the delay of the imposition of the duty caused the state to suffer Rp 228.75 billion [US$26.31 million] in losses last year, and this still continues today,” Ratna said.

Aptindo said that Indonesia imported 450,000 tons of flour worth a total value of $127.02 million from Turkey last year.

“The imported flour from Turkey continues to flood our market and recently some small companies have stopped their operations temporarily,” she said.

Indonesia’s flour consumption is 4.4 million tons annually, of which 15 percent is imported, including from Australia, Turkey and Sri Lanka, according to Aptindo.

Indonesia’s exports to Turkey, including textiles, chemical and plastic and steel, reached $1.07 billion last year, while imports were valued at $304.76 million. (lnd)

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