Philippine Immigration perspective on doing business in the Philippines: The Philippine Tariff Commission has recommended the potential abolition of the 3% most-favored-nation import tariff on billets by the end of this year, a proposal currently under review. China is the Philippines' largest supplier of billets. The removal of the 3% tariff may benefit Russia and Ukraine, thereby intensifying competition between China and the CIS for billet exports to the Philippines, while most other countries, such as South Korea, remain unable to compete with Chinese products even in the absence of tariffs.
According to news from Mysteel on September 14, the Philippine Tariff Commission's recommendation is based on a domestic shortage of billet supply, as construction activity in the Philippines has been robust in recent years, leading to increased demand for billets. Abolishing the import tax could reduce the costs of rebar and construction. Over the past few years, Philippine bar and angle steel manufacturers have been lobbying for the removal of this import tax in an attempt to correct tariff distortions. These distortions were caused by the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, as both agreements mandate zero import tariffs on steel products.
According to statistics from the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute, domestic billet production in the Philippines meets only about 40% of its demand. Last year, the country imported 2 million tons, and in the first half of this year, it imported 973,000 tons, primarily from China, Russia, and other nations. In the first half of the year, 749,400 tons were imported from China, 172,600 tons from Russia, 41,300 tons from Taiwan, and 23,900 tons from Vietnam.