EU mulls dumping of Chinese aluminium flat rolled

The EU's official journal today announced initiation of an anti-dumping (AD) investigation into aluminium flat rolled products from China.

The AD investigation follows a complaint filed on 30 June by trade association European Aluminium. The European Commission indicated that the industry body had provided "sufficient" evidence of raw material distortions that appear to result in prices lower than those quoted on international markets.

Products investigated include sheets, coils, coiled strips, circles of a thickness of 0.03mm-6mm and plates of over 6mm. The investigation generally excludes aluminium used in beverage cans, automotive body panels and aircraft manufacturing products thicker than 0.8mm.

Interested parties have 10 days to submit information on the product scope.

"It's obvious that Chinese firms aren't respecting the global rules of free and fair trade, and the numbers show they are dumping more and more products on our market," said European Aluminium director general Gerd Gotz.

The association said flat rolled aluminium imports from China to the EU, which are included in the investigation, increased from 171,000t in 2016 to 330,000t in 2019, reaching a 12pc market share.

European Aluminium said that if the commission's investigation confirms Chinese dumping, measures could be imposed as early as 14 March 2021. The time limit for the investigation is 15 months.

The EU is also investigating, since February, imports of Chinese aluminium extrusions.

By Dafydd ab Iago