The Philippine Board of Investments has announced that the Philippines will allow duty free imports of 175,000 mt of hot rolled (HR), cold rolled (CR) and tinplate products from Japan in 2009, according to the economic partnership agreement to be signed between the two countries recently.
Accordingly, under the terms of the agreement Japanese-origin hot rolled coil, cold rolled and tinplate will not be subject to import duty up to a quota of 175,000 mt in the first year, rising to 187,000 mt in the second year, and to 200,000 mt in the third year. The quota in question was put in place to shield local steel mills from a surge in imports.The Philippines' current import tax on HR and CR products remains at seven percent.
About 90 percent of domestic consumption of cold rolled sheets relies on imports. There is just one supplier of cold rolled sheet in the Phillipines, namely Global Steel Philippines Inc.