Govt urged to ban finished seamless pipe imports

Pipe manufacturers have urged the government to ban imports of finished seamless pipes for the oil and gas industry in order to protect local seamless pipe makers, Kompas daily reported Friday.

The government also should impose 40-percent import tariffs on seamless pipe products, the paper quoted as saying Willem Siahaya, general chairman of the Association of Indonesian Oil and Gas Drilling Pipe Producers (APROPIPE).

Willem said that imported seamless pipes currently dominated the Indonesian market, thus pushing local pipe manufacturers into a corner.

He complained that some foreign oil contractors preferred seamless pipes brought in from other countries to local products.

?Why do they import the products, while in fact Indonesia-made drilling pipes are quality products and are sold at competitive prices?,? Willem said. Moreover, local pipe manufacturers could guarantee on-time delivery and after sale service, he said.

APROPIPE?s members include PT Citra Tubindo, PT Seamless Pipe Indonesia Jaya, PT Patraindo Nusa Pertiwi, PT Hymindo Petromas Utama, PT Dwi Sumber Arca Waja and PT H-Tech Oilfield Equipment.

Willem said that Indonesian pipe producers have combined capacity to manufacture 570,000 tons of seamless pipes per year, while domestic demand was 120,000 tons only. (*)