The government
continues to suppress the volume of imported products and encourage the growth
of domestic industries, especially base metal material industries. Data from
the Ministry of Industry mentioned that currently the metal industry supplied
at lest 85% for machinery equipment. Considering that it plays a role in the
development of national industry, the Ministry of Industry is committed to
protecting the national industry.
Minister of Industry, Saleh Husin,
in Jakarta, Friday (June 26), said that the metal industry is one of the basic
industries that support production of capital goods supporting other
industries. With metal as the main raw material, the industry is recognized as
having a role in the development of national industry. the position of this
industry as supporter of other industry is also strengthened by base materials
industry growth, where in 2014 grew by 5.89%.
Meanwhile, to ensure the availability
of raw material supply, the Ministry of Industry has supported local
resource-based metal industry development program. He explained that the
potentials of abundant domestic raw materials which have not been used
optimally is also a great opportunity for improvement of product
competitiveness.
Saleh Husin also stressed that the
government continued to suppress the volume of use of imported products and
encourage the growth of domestic industry, especially base metal industry. The
strategy is the increased Use of Domestic product (P3DN) program. Through P3DN
program, Industry Minister said that the government provides support to become
a trigger to increase the use of metal products in the country, especially in
projects financed by the state budget (APBN). One of them is by requiring
government agencies to maximize the use of domestic products in the procurement
of goods/service funded by state budget (APBN)/regional budget (APBD).
The Ministry of Industry, said Husin,
has repeatedly encouraged the use of local products in every government
project. Unfortunately, supervision and enforcement are not yet evident, so the
urge t improve the domestic industry is still considered lacking. He said that
the sluggishness of the world steel industry led to the migration of production
to countries that have high demand. According to the Minister of Industry,
Indonesia with a variety of infrastructure megaproject plans, has become the
target of world’s steel producers.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Iron &
Steel Industry Association (IISIA) is pessimistic that the implementation of
the regulation on steel import duties from most favorite nation (MFN) is able
to stem the flow of imported products into the country this year. Data from the
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the volume of imports of iron and
steel in January-May 2015 is 4.970 million tons, or equivalent to USD 3,538
billion. Of the 15 major iron and steel exporting countries, eight have had a
free trade agreement (FTA) with Indonesia.
Executive Director of IISIA,
Triseputro Hidayat, said that sources of iron and steel imports mostly come
from countries that have had FTA with Indonesia. Hidayat believed that tariff
harmonization seemed not to have a maximum impact, so it must also be supported
by specific non-tariff barrier.
Hidayat explained that the Minister
of Finance has issue Minister of Finance Regulation No. 15/2015 on Second Amendment
to Regulation of the minister of Finance No.15/2015 on Second Amendment to
Regulation of the Minister of Finance No.213/2011 on the stipulation of System
of Classification and Exemption of Import duty Tariff on Imported Goods. The
minimum limit of import duty is 15% for iron and steel products with tariff
heading (HS) 72 is expected to boost local steel consumption which is currently
unable to compete with imported steel.
He also revealed that the steel
industry would petition to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China’s
unfair trading. He revealed that members of South East Asia Iron & Steel
Institute (SEAISI) have agreed to protest against the Chinese government’s
policies, which imposed a tax rebate for downstream products, and exports of
upstream products were imposed with high rate. He said that with the policy
imposed by the government, there is no country in the world that can resist.
(E)
Business News - July 1, 2015
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