The Indonesian government has slammed the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission's decision to impose tariffs on Indonesian paper, saying it doesn't dump paper in Australia and warning the move could affect free trade talks.
Enggartiasto Lukita, Indonesia's trade minister, wrote to Australian trade minister Steven Ciobo earlier this year saying accusations that Indonesia dumped cheap copy paper into the Australian market were 'not true'. Deddy Saleh, the head of Indonesia's negotiation team for the Australian free trade deal, also said it would affect discussions on the agreement.
Roger Simpson, anti-dumping specialist, represents Indonesian pulp and paper company Sinar Mas. He says Indonesia will appeal the decision to the Department of Industry's administrative review panel, and to the Federal Court should that fail. "In the meantime, we’re expecting the government of Indonesia to take the matter to the World Trade Organisation’s dispute settlement body, and we’ll be assisting with that," he said.
Simpson says the appeal hinges on the ADC's finding that Indonesian government policies created a 'particular market situation' in which domestic and export prices could not be compared. "The Commission found that there are Indonesian government policies affecting the domestic prices, which we are disputing – there’s no evidence that government policies are impacting on A4 government prices. They are basing their finding on the Indonesian government's policies in relation to the timber industry and saying that flows through from timber to pulp to paper.
"What we’re saying is that there’s no evidence that government policies are in place that impact on timber prices, but even if they do, they impact on paper produced for all markets, domestic and export, so therefore it won’t mean that there cannot be comparison of domestic and export prices in the dumping margin determination – because both would be affected," he said.
The decision by the ADC to impose tariffs on copy paper imports from Brazil, China, Indonesia and Thailand was welcomed by Australian Paper, Australia's only office paper manufacturer. In a statement to the media, Craig Laundy, assistant minister for industry, innovation and science, said the tariff would help protect the company from being undercut by cheap imports. “The measures imposed as a result of this investigation will provide an effective safeguard to Australian Paper from the effects of dumped and subsidised imports from the four countries subject to this investigation. Those four countries accounted for 94 per cent of A4 copy paper imported during the investigation period.
"The Turnbull Government will continue to protect Australian industries and workers, under Australia’s anti-dumping and countervailing (anti-subsidy) system,” Laundy said.