The Tariff Commission (TC) has recommended against imposing a definitive general safeguard duty on imports of recycled corrugating medium, concluding that statutory thresholds under Philippine trade law were not fully satisfied after a months-long investigation.
In a summary report dated Jan. 30, the Commission said it wrapped up its inquiry on Jan. 29 and transmitted its Final Report to the Office of the Trade Secretary. Recycled corrugating medium is a key input for carton boxes and other packaging materials used across consumer and industrial supply chains.
The TC determined that domestically produced recycled corrugating medium is a “like product” to the imported material. It also found that imports expanded beginning 2023, with the increase characterized as recent, sudden, sharp, and significant in both absolute volume and relative to local output.
Despite this import surge, the Commission said industry-wide evidence on core injury indicators was inadequate to support an affirmative finding of serious injury or a threat thereof to the domestic industry. In the absence of such a determination, the legally required causal link between rising imports and serious injury could not be established under Republic Act No. 8800, or the Safeguard Measures Act.
The Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (PULPAPEL) accounted for an average 91 percent of total industry production from 2019 to 2024 and roughly 93 percent in early 2025. However, the TC noted that data submitted by cooperating firms, United Pulp and Paper Co. Inc. and Bataan 2020 Inc., did not represent a major proportion of overall domestic output, limiting the robustness of the injury analysis.
A provisional safeguard duty, imposed earlier as a cash bond, remains subject to disposition pending final government action.
