A functional official for industrial development at the ministry's Directorate of Cement, Ceramics, and Non-Metallic Minerals Processing (ISKPBGNL), Ashady Hanafie, said that ceramics is one of the priority industrial sectors due to its high competitiveness.
"Ceramic tiles have faced serious problems. The increase in gas prices is worsening the situation. In 2015, this industry was prosperous with high competitiveness," he noted on Tuesday.
He said that the ceramic tile, glass, and cement industries use gas in their manufacturing process. Therefore, when gas prices spike, domestic ceramics tend to lose competition with imported ceramic products.
"As soon as the gas price increases, we cannot compete. Then the imported ones emerge," Hanafie said.
Based on the ISKPBGNL Directorate's records, the ceramic industry's production capacity utility had reached 90 percent. However, due to an increase in gas prices and the influx of cheap imports, ceramic tile productivity fell to 69 percent by the end of 2023.
The figure continued to decline, with productivity sliding to 64 percent in January 2024 and 61 percent in February.
The price of natural gas has been set at US$6 per MMBTU. In addition, ceramic production costs have climbed by 5–6 percent following the increase in fuel prices, resulting in a weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the volume of ceramic tile imports is reported to have continued to increase in 2019, from 75.6 million square meters to 93.4 million square meters in 2023, although it fell to 70.2 million square meters in 2022, Hanafie informed.
He said that ceramic tile products from China were given a tax refund incentive of 14 percent by the government.
The surge in imports has affected seven ceramic tile industry companies, which have stopped production. Five of the companies are recipients of HGBT (Certain Price of Natural Gas) facilities, he added.
Therefore, the ministry supports the recommendation of the Indonesian Anti-dumping Committee (KADI) to apply Anti-dumping Import Duties (BMAD) to ceramic tile products from China.
"We implemented trade remedies in the form of anti-dumping starting on March 15, 2023. In July 2024, the BMAD recommendation for 5 years had been issued and the tariff will be between 100.12 percent to 199.88 percent," Hanafie disclosed.
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Translator: Maria Cicilia G P, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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