New import tariffs on aluminium foil from the People’s Republic of China are in the offing, as the European Commission found this week that Chinese producers received unfair and excessive state subsidies.
The EU’s official journal noted the action, revealing that the tariffs apply to certain aluminium converter foil from China. Rates will be between 8.6 percent and 18.2 percent, depending upon the supplier. The new aluminium import tariffs will be in addition to the existing anti-dumping duties imposed earlier by the European Commission, which range between 6.0 percent and 28.5 percent.
The investigation into aluminium foil imports from China came after a complaint lodged by European aluminium producers including Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products, Eurofoil Luxembourg, and Carcano Antonio among others that their Chinese counterparts took advantage of state subsidies to undercut domestic producers. Rather than allowing the free market to decide prices, EU aluminium producers charged Chinese producers with benefiting from preferential credit terms, tax exemptions, government grants, subsidized power, advantageous land use rights, and other such advantages.
Per the EU’s investigation, China’s market share of aluminium foil sales in Europe jumped from 18 percent in 2017 to 24 percent in 2019, all while prices for aluminium foil fell and imports from other nations remained steady.