JAKARTA, May 1: The Indonesian government is mulling ways of protecting its steel industry from cheap imports, a report said on Wednesday.

President of state-owned steel maker PT Krakatau Steel, Sutrisno said among options being considered were higher import tariffs and surcharges, the Jakarta Post reported.

“We (Krakatau Steel) are waiting for a government decision ... to limit steel imports,” Sutrisno said.

He added that local producers had plenty of evidence that cheap imports were flooding the market and threatening their productions.

“We have showed the evidence to the government,” he said, adding that the government was due to issue a decision on new protective measures “in the next few days.”

Indonesia belongs to the World Trade Organization (WTO) which allows members to temporarily or permanently raise import duties to curb sudden influxes of certain imported products. They must though be able to prove that such an inflow threatens the survival of local companies.

Indonesia currently imposes a five per cent import tariff for hot rolled coils of steel and 10 per cent for cold rolled coils. Sutrisno said that Indonesian steel producers were worried the low tariffs would lead to a bigger influx of cheap imports.

Kramain steel producer, produces about 2.5 million tons of steel products a year while annual domestic consumption stands at around 3.9 million tons.

Steel imports are mostly from South Korea, Japan and Russia.—AFP