Influx of Chinese imports affects Indonesia's local ceramics industry

The utilization rate of ceramic products in the country in the first half of 2024 was only 621 TP3T, a result that was down from the utilization rates of 691 TP3T in 2023 and 781 TP3T in 2022, respectively.Chairman Asaki said that the decline in utilization was due to dumping of ceramic tiles imported from China.The negative impact and losses were evident in the first half of 2024 when Chinese imports increased by 11.6% to 34.9 million square meters. Not only that, a ceramic import and export trade deficit of US$1.24 billion was recorded during 2018-2023. He believes that this should not have happened because the national ceramics industry has a production capacity of 625 million square meters per year, a capacity that should be able to meet all the domestic demand for ceramics. As a result of this situation, more than six companies have been forced to cease all operations over the past few years, and this closure has led to layoffs. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic that the national ceramic production capacity will improve this year, and he is optimistic that the utilization rate could reach 65-671 TP3T, according to the Finance Minister (PMK) on the anti-dumping import duty (BMAD) on ceramic tiles. if the BMAD standard for Chinese ceramic tiles is between 701 TP3T and 801 TP3T, Asaki's target is that the country will be in a position to achieve the BMAD standard of 701 TP3T to 801 TP3T by 2025, which is the highest in the country.utilization of productionto 801 TP3T and more than 901 TP3T by 2026.Asaki wrote to the Minister of Finance on Friday, February 6, 2024, urging her to immediately issue the Finance Minister's Regulation (PMK) relating to the imposition of a levy on ceramic tiles imported from Chinaanti-dumping duty(BMAD).

They demanded attention and seriousness and urged the Finance Minister to take prompt action. He considered the imposition of anti-dumping import duty on ceramic tiles very important as the performance of the ceramic industry in the country was declining year after year. This trend has been caused by the onslaught of imported ceramic tile products from China, which have proved to be unfairly traded in the form of dumping. The nation's industry is currently in decline, as is evident from the contraction in the PMI figures for July and August. The slow promulgation of the Finance Minister's regulation on anti-dumping import duties on ceramic tiles has provided an opportunity for importers to continue to import in large quantities, which is higher than the average imports prior to the massive news from the Ministry of Trade on the size of the BMAD, when tiles were averaging a BMAd of 40-501TP3 T. This large-scale importation is an attempt by the importers to avoid the imposition of anti-dumping import duties at the time of issuance of the ministerial regulation, and thus He estimated that the effect of the anti-dumping import duty policy would diminish in the coming months. The Minister of Trade had written to the Minister of Finance on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 regarding the decision to impose BMAD on Chinese ceramic tiles. The then Director of Trade Policy claimed that he could not disclose to the public the amount of BMAD decided by the Minister of Trade because it was against the rules. When the decree was issued and came into effect, the public, including the media, had access to PMK.