Shoe firms angry at EU punitive duty plan
By Jiang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-04 08:48 Chinese shoemakers yesterday
spoke out against a European Union (EU) proposal to levy punitive duties on
Chinese leather shoes, the second draft final ruling against Chinese shoes in a
month.
People
purchase shoes at a supermarket in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's
Henan Province. [newsphoto] |
Xie Rongfang, secretary-general of the shoemakers' association in Wenzhou,
Zhejiang Province, one of the centres of the industry in China, said the draft
was unfair, vowing that Chinese firms would continue to fight the dumping claim.
Late last month, EU Trade Commission Peter Mandelson proposed a new
anti-dumping scheme for shoe imports from China and Viet Nam, under which the EU
would slap a blanket duty of 16.5 per cent on all leather shoe imports from
China and 10 per cent on imports from Viet Nam.
Jin Lu Shoes, the only Chinese company to get market economy status from the
European Commission in this case, would be charged 9.7 per cent.
Although they do not come under the current provisional regime, some
categories of footwear, such as children's shoes, would be covered by the new
anti-dumping duties, which could last as much as five years.
European retailers are unhappy with the new proposal, with some saying that
it would be difficult for them to pass the additional costs on to consumers.
In July, Mandelson put forward his first draft plan for the final ruling on
leather shoes.
He planned to let 140 million pairs of Chinese leather shoes come into the
European market free of duties, but impose tariffs of up to 23 per cent on
additional imports of leather shoes from China.
EU member states such as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Poland rejected
the scheme, under which 80 per cent of Asian imports would be exempted from
tariffs, believing that it was too weak.
The EU then imposed a provisional tariff of 14.5 per cent on Chinese leather
shoes.
Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce
Gao Hucheng will visit Europe next month for high-level negotiations with the
European Union on the controversy.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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