The Building Products Industry Council (BPIC) has warned that allowing dumped building product imports to continue unchecked risks wiping out local manufacturers and destabilising Australia’s construction market.

The warning comes as the council rejected claims by the Master Builders Association that proposed anti-dumping duties on imported building products would increase housing costs. The BPIC says such duties are only imposed when investigations confirm products are being sold below their normal overseas value.

“Anti-dumping duties don’t push prices up; they restore fair competition. They help to buffer the Australian construction sector from overseas interests intent on destroying the local market,” BPIC chief executive Rodger Hill says.

The comments follow an Anti-Dumping Commission investigation into imported glass windows and doors, which attracted more than 400 submissions from manufacturers, unions and industry groups. The volume of submissions highlights widespread concern about foreign-subsidised products being dumped into the Australian market, according to the BPIC.

“These concerns are not speculative; they are grounded in real-world impacts on Australian jobs, investment and supply chain stability,” Rodger says.

The BPIC says Australia’s building products sector directly employs more than 243,000 people and supports a further 796,500 jobs indirectly. The sector includes about 262,000 firms and contributes $67.3 billion in economic activity through manufacturing, fabrication and installation.

“Domestic manufacturing capability cannot survive, let alone grow, under distorted market conditions; it’s as simple as that. Spurious claims that domestic manufacturing capability is lacking, with the gap needing to be filled by cheap dumped products, puts all those jobs and businesses at risk,” Rodger says.

He explained that post-COVID increases in building material costs have been driven largely by inflation and uncertainty rather than the enforcement of World Trade Organisation-compliant trade rules.

Rodger warns that unchecked dumping could worsen price volatility by undermining local producers, reducing domestic production diversity and shifting control of supply chains and pricing offshore: “Australia cannot deliver 1.2 million new homes based on a foundation of distorted markets and collapsing domestic production capability.”

“A resilient construction sector requires a fair and level playing field with both competitive imports and strong local manufacturing, something impossible without enforcing anti-dumping laws.”