EU to slap tough anti-dumping fines on Chinese, Vietnamese shoes

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday August 29, 2006

Brussels- The European Commission is set to slap tough anti-dumping fines on low-cost leather footwear from China this week in another long-running trade battle with the Asian economic giant. The Commission - the EU's executive agency - is expected to call for the introduction of a 16.5 per cent duty on low-cost Chinese leather shoes exported to Europe.

A punitive levy of 10 per cent will be recommended for Vietnamese leather footwear exports to the EU.

Both duties will be applied for a period of five years, under proposals to be unveiled by EU trade chief Peter Mandelson on Wednesday.

Calls for tough EU action to stem the tide of cheap Chinese shoes have come in recent months from European manufacturers mainly in Italy, Portugal and Spain.

But in preliminary discussions on the issue in late July a small majority of EU states opposed the duties.

EU officials said, however, that Mandelson was confident of the legal merits of his proposals and believed they were credible.

The officials also said that under EU rules any government voting against the Commission anti-dumping proposal would have to advance legal arguments to support its stance.

A decision on the issue has to be taken by October 6 when current provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese and Vietnamese footwear run out.

According to Commission figures, EU imports of Chinese leather shoes climbed more than fourfold between 2001 and March 2005, raising the country's share of the European market to 9 per cent from 2.2 per cent.

Vietnam's shipments almost doubled over the same period, boosting the country's share of the EU market to 14 percent from 7 percent.

China's total shoe exports to the EU last year were 1.25 billion pairs while those from Vietnam amounted to 265 million pairs.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur