Members of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers Association of the Philippines Inc. and Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors on Tuesday expressed disappointment over the Department of Trade and Industry’s imposition of provisional safeguard measures on imported vehicles.
CAMPI president Rommel Gutierrez said the safeguard measure would further derail the recovery efforts of industry players and stakeholders from the crisis.
“As if the adverse impact of the pandemic is not enough, the decision to impose provisional safeguard measures against imported vehicles is yet another blow to the automotive industry,” he said.
Gutierrez said while CAMPI was supporting the development of local vehicle manufacturing, it consistently opposed the imposition of safeguard duty against imported completely built-up units, or CBUs.
Majority of CAMPI members are bringing in vehicles from manufacturing hubs in other countries.
“We project further reduction in sales volume which in turn poses risk of employment downsizing, not to mention government revenue loss,” Gutierrez said.
He said the measure would also encourage the revival of grey market/used vehicles. With much uncertainty, investments in dealer expansion and parts localization may also be deferred, he said.
CAMPI said the measure’s the risk in the short term would include a disruption in regional production and supply while medium to long term impact might include a slowdown in regional economic growth because of chain reaction to other industrial sectors.
“Furthermore, this could potentially weaken trade and economic relations triggered by retaliation by concerned exporting countries to the Philippines,” Gutierrez said.
Meanwhile, AVID said the move to impose provisional safeguard measures on imported vehicles would severely impact the recovery outlook of the industry at a time when all players and stakeholders are appealing for government support.
“AVID has always aimed for the long-term development of the automotive sector, including the advancement of manufacturing as an inclusive means for growth. We have clearly and consistently expressed our position that penalizing imports will not trigger investments or create more jobs, much less address issues on the regional competitiveness of our local manufacturing sector,” said AVID president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.
The group also called for long-term policies to further improve the ease of doing business to open opportunities for investments, create jobs for Filipino workers and provide the Filipinos reliable and affordable means of transport.
The Department of Trade and Industry on Monday imposed P70,000 to P110,000 safeguard measure for every unit of imported passenger car and light commercial vehicle after finding out that vehicle importation could seriously injure the local manufacturing/assembly industry.
It said the provisional safeguards would be in effect for 200 days while it conferring with the Tariff Commission for definitive safeguard measures.