Dozens accuse Indonesia of "dumping"

The Jakarta Post ,   Jakarta   |  Thu, 03/05/2009 7:29 PM   

At least 20 countries have accused the Republic of practising market dumping in more than 20 ranges of exported products. 

"The countries that have lodged a report include India, South Africa, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, a couple of countries in the European Union (EU), Malaysia, USA, Turkey, Canada, Peru, Argentina, Egypt, Brazil, Colombia, and South Korea,"  director from the international trade and cooperation directorate general at the trade ministry Martua Sihombing said Thursday, as quoted by Antara news. 

Sihombing explained that dumping is the practice of selling a product in a foreign country for less than the price in the domestic country. 

"It's unfortunately becoming a trend for countries to accuse others of dumping in the ongoing global financial slowdown," he said. 

According to Sihombing, the list of 20 products Indonesia has been accused of dumping include toilet paper, paper, diary notebooks, aluminum, batteries, tires, steel, textile, ready-to-wear garments, synthetic fibres and motorcycles. 

"The most common product to receive dumping accusation is metal-based products. This is because it's a volatile sector vis-a-vis imported products," he said, adding that the government would need to step in to settle the accusation. 

Sihombing added 180 cases of dumping accusation have been reported against Indonesia between 1995 and 2008. 

"Eighty-five of the cases reported were dismissed as dumping was not proven to have occurred. 76 cases followed through and 19 others are currently still in process," he said. (amr)