EU to impose antidumping duties on extrusions from China

On 22 September the European Commission announced its intention to impose provisional antidumping duties on aluminium extrusions originating in China.

Extrusions covered by the antidumping duties are profiles, rods, bars, extruded tubes and pipes made from aluminium. Duty rates vary from 30.4 to 48 %.

“For Hydro’s around 40 extrusion plants in Europe, the antidumping action is a move that will mitigate unfair competition. For our customers, this will contribute to making sure Europe continues to have a viable extrusion industry which will still have a high level of competition due to its many competitors,” says Egil Hogna, head of Extruded Solutions in Hydro.

What Hogna delineates for Hydro applies to the entire European aluminium extrusion industry.

The duties are an outcome of an investigation opened in February this year. The European Commission has now found that Chinese extrusions have been sold in the European Union at prices so low that they can be considered dumping and unfair competition to domestic producers.

While the provisional duties are expected to be enforced by mid-October, the investigation of the Commission will continue and is expected to be finalized in April 2021. At that point, the tariffs may be confirmed as definitive, modified or removed. If confirmed, the tariff will normally be in place for five years.

Chinese imports of extrusions have reached a significant market share and Chinese imports of semi-fabricated aluminium products have more than doubled in the past five years.

Only recently, on 14 August, the EU Commission opened an anti-dumping investigation into certain aluminium flat rolled products originating from China, following a complaint by the European Aluminium association.