The Philippines' Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants to impose "equal treatment" to all imported cement, regardless if the product is brought in by a pure trader or by a manufacturer.

"We're not going to give a distinction. Every [product] will undergo product testing, but we’ll see if we're going to do pre-shipment or post-shipment or both. We have to balance it in a way that there's product compliance for the benefit of consumer," Trade Secretary Ramon M Lopez said in an interview.

The DTI intends to resolve the ongoing row between cement manufacturers and importers by imposing the same testing procedure for all cement players, but have yet to decide if the procedure will mean only pre-shipment inspection (PSI) or inspection upon port of destination, or both.