Cemex Holdings unit suspends terminal operations in Davao

CEMEX Holdings Philippines, Inc. said one of its subsidiaries has temporarily suspended terminal operations due to surging operational costs and the entry of Vietnamese cement imports.

In a statement on Monday, Cemex said APO Cement Corp. has temporarily stopped the operations of its Davao cement terminal, which has a daily dispatching capacity of 25,000 bags.

“Our operational costs in maintaining the Davao terminal have increased and continue to increase, while our volumes are decreasing due to the unabated entry of cement imports from Vietnam. Given these, we are constrained to suspend terminal operations in Davao,” Cemex Vice-President for Supply Chain Edwin P. Hufemia said.

“This suspension of our operations in the Davao terminal will allow us to continue focusing on efficiently running our plant and other terminals and warehouses in order to cope with these current challenges,” he added.

Despite the temporary suspension, Mr. Hufemia said that the supply and delivery of the company’s cement will be unaffected.

The cement manufacturing plant of APO Cement is located in Naga City, Cebu.

“We remain committed to supporting the country’s development program and support the administration’s Build, Better, More infrastructure program, and we assure the public that there will be no disruption on the supply and delivery of our cement,” Mr. Hufemia said.

In December last year, the Department of Trade and Industry imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on specific cement brands imported from Vietnam.

Dumping happens when exporters sell their products to an importing country at a lower price compared to their normal value when used in the domestic market.

Currently, there is a pending case in the Tariff Commission regarding a petition for anti-dumping filed by local cement manufacturers against ordinary Portland cement type 1 and blended cement type 1P imports from Vietnam. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave