Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The government will issue an anti dumping regulation on steel products to protect the country's steel industry.
The Finance Minister agrees with the imposition of anti dumping import duty, Edy Putra Irawady, a deputy at the office of the coordinating minister for economy , said here on Tuesday.
The Finance Minister will soon issue a regulation in February or early March, Edy said.
The issuance of the regulation will be followed with the opening of an escrow account for fund guarantee from importers of steel products, he said.
The fund guarantee will make the process of investigation of alleged dumping faster, he added.
"Around 90 days after the arrival of imported goods, the importer is required to pay the guarantee fund to the escrow account," he said.
If dumping is not found the fund would be returned to the importer, he said.
He said the government had the responsibility to protect the national interest from the negative impact of surplus in steel supply in the world market.
Steel industry is a backbone industry , therefore, it must not weakened by imports, he said.
Earlier, head of the Capital Investment Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani said the national steel industry needs protection from the impact of imports as the country already has adequate supply from local steel makers.
However, Franky acknowledged there is steel hurdles hampering investment in the steel industry that imports are steel needed and dumping is potential.
He said BKPM would seek to remove the hurdles such as high tariff of electricity .
"The duty of BKPM is to guarantee that investment in steel industry would run well," he said. (WDY)
