Bloomberg reported that the European Union imposed five year tariffs on steel wires from China used in construction to help EU producers.
The duties as high as 46.2% punish Chinese exporters for selling pre- and post-stressing wires and wire strands in the EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. Companies such as the UK Strongforce Engineering Plc use the wires in concrete for buildings and bridges.
The 27 nation EU said in a decision in Brussels that European manufacturers suffered material injury as a result of dumped imports from China. The five-year duties follow provisional levies introduced six months ago and will take effect after being published in the Official Journal by May 15th.
The European Commission said when it imposed the provisional duties in November that Chinese exporters increased their share of the EU market for the wires and wire strands to 8.2% in 2007 from 0.4% in 2004, while European producers suffered a decline to 80.3% from 93.2%. The commission is the EU’s executive arm.
The six-month levies were as high as 52.2% depending on the Chinese manufacturer and the EU will refund importers the difference with the lower five year duties. The new rates are zero for Kiswire Qingdao Ltd, 31.1% for Ossen Innovation Materials Co and 46.2% for all other Chinese producers of the wires and wire strands.
The EU which listed Strongforce Engineering as well as the UK Hanson Building Products Ltd. among the users of the goods, dismissed a claim by one interested party that the five-year duties would lead to a supply shortage in the UK because of the country’s reliance on imports.
The bloc said British manufacturers of the wires and wire strands have large spare capacity to supply the market. In November, the commission listed the UK Carrington Wire Ltd among the EU manufacturers.
The trade protection results from an inquiry opened in February 2008 following a dumping complaint by Eurostress Information Service, which represents European makers of steel wires and wire strands. This has been one of four EU dumping cases involving Chinese steel products over the past year and a half.
Under EU practices, the commission can introduce provisional anti-dumping duties for six months and the bloc’s national governments acting on a commission proposal can turn those measures into definitive five year levies at the same or different rates.