SOUTH AFRICA: PPC welcomes imposition of anti-dumping duties on Portland cement

PPC, SA’s premier listed cement maker, says it welcomes the imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on Portland cement.

This follows the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa’s (Itac’s) investigation into dumping of cement from Pakistan. PPC says there were more than 1-million tonnes of dumped cement imports from Pakistan in 2014.

In terms of the preliminary determination, provisional anti-dumping duties of between 14.29% and 77.15% have been imposed on Pakistani cement imports up to and including November 13.

Reuters said that PPC shares made their biggest intraday gain in more than six years in JSE trade on Friday, jumping more than 8%. At 3.08pm they were trading at R18.

"We are very pleased with the imposition of dumping duties on cement products from Pakistan," PPC CEO Darryll Castle said on Friday.

"We believe that strong local competition exists, supporting fair industry pricing, quality products and job creation on a sustainable basis," he said.

He also said PPC and other industry players had engaged with the Department of Trade and Industry and other stakeholders regarding this "unfair practice".

He said dumping caused significant "injury to the local cement manufacturing industry, including job losses and underutilisation of production capacity, especially in coastal areas".

As part of their application to Itac, local cement producers representing the industry in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) said on Friday that there was a more than 80% increase in volume of dumped imports from Pakistan between 2010 and 2014.

They said cement was being dumped in Sacu at about 48% less than the ex-factory selling price in Pakistan. Also, that Pakistan cement manufacturers enjoyed structured tax benefits and subsidies.

"Such growth has been at the expense of Sacu producers’ sales volumes over the same period," the producers said.

"In 2014, dumped Pakistani imports accounted for more than 98% of all cement imports."

Echoing PPC, they also said that "significant injury has been caused to the cement manufacturing industry in Sacu, including job losses, underutilisation of production capacity and reduced return on assets employed".