Indonesia imposed 28 percent import duties on I-beams

Indonesia's Ministry of Commerce said the country has imposed import duties on I-beams starting January 21 this year. The duties will continue for a three-year period until January 20th, 2018. The country's government is keen to protect domestic industry from cheap imports of beams, especially from China.

Duties are applied to steel I-beams up to 100mm x 350mm and I-beams up to 100mm x 600mm, which fall under HMS codes 72287010 and 72287090. The duty rate is 28 percent for the first year. Subsequently, rates will be reduced to 26 and 18 percent for the second and third years, respectively.

The Commerce Department's ruling is based on a complaint filed by local producer PT Gunung Garuda, which claims the dumping of products from other countries poses a serious problem to the survival of domestic players. Another type of construction metal - hot-rolled channel has not yet come under the close scrutiny of the Indonesian authorities and can be supplied to this country on a general basis.

An investigation by the country's Ministry of Commerce found that imports of I-beams rose severalfold to 395,814 tonnes in 2014, up from 20,331 tonnes in 2010, with China accounting for 96.62 percent of total imports, followed by South Korea and Singapore with 1.56 and 0.96 percent market share, respectively.

Earlier during 2014, the country imposed protective duties on imports of rebar and wire spool. In addition, Indonesia has tightened its steel imports into the country by adopting a new regulation that only allows registered companies to import boron-doped steel.