South Africa imposes duties on Pakistan cement imports

South Africa has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 14.29 per cent to 77.15 per cent on Portland cement originating in or imported from Pakistan, effective 15 May 2015 for a period of six months.

The levies follow an investigation initiated by the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) on 22 August 2014 after a number of local cement producing companies submitted an application on behalf of the SACU industry.

Companies including AfriSam, Lafarge Industries South Africa, NPC Cimpor and PPC approached ITAC with sufficient information and established a prima facie case that convinced the Commission to initiate an investigation on the basis of dumping, material injury, threat of material injury and causality.

The application was opposed by some Pakistani cement producers such as Lucky Cement Ltd, Bestway Cement Ltd, DG Khan Cement Ltd and Attock Pakistan Cement Ltd.

Domestically, importers such as Elephant Cement (Pty) Ltd (Elephant Cement); Emzamvelo Trading CC (Ezamvelo), News Steel Works (Pty) Ltd (Newcastle); Picronamix Investment CC (Picronamix) and Anchor Africa Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Anchor) had an opportunity to participate in the investigation.

During the investigation, the interested parties had an opportunity to make comments and submit the information they deemed crucial for the investigation. They also made oral representations to the Commission. All comments submitted within the specified periods of time, were considered by the Commission in making its preliminary determination.

Findings
The Commission found that SACU industry is suffering material injury through a decline in sales volume and output as well as profits and cash flow. The SACU industry also experienced price undercutting and price suppression. The Commission further found that a threat of material injury exists given that Pakistan has increased its production capacity: Pakistan's exports to its traditional markets are declining and imports from Pakistan into SACU increased by over 600 per cent between 2010 and 2013.

The Commission made a preliminary determination that Portland cement originating in or imported from Pakistan was dumped into the SACU market, causing material injury to the SACU industry.

Thus, in order to prevent further injury to the industry while the investigation is underway, the Commission has requested the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to impose the provisional measures on imported Portland cement :

• Lucky Cement Ltd: 14.29 per cent
• Bestway Cement: 77.15 per cent
• DG Khan Cement: 68.87 per cent
• Attock Cement Pakistan: 63.53 per cent
• Others: 62.69 per cent.

The levies will run until 13 November 2015, after which ITAC will submit recommendations to impose permanent duties, PPC said in a statement.