The European Commission has asked the WTO's dispute mediation body to mediate China's decision to impose a 24.6% temporary anti-dumping duty on European Union steel connectors, Reuters reported on May 10. According to the daily economic news, this is China's response after the EU imposed a punitive tariff of 85% on bolts and screws imported from China in January 2009.
Shang Jinkui, general manager of Shanghai Yishang screw Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the daily economic news on the 11th that the EU has brought a "very heavy blow" to Chinese fastener export manufacturers, while China's response to the EU's tariff collection is only a symbolic measure. Shangjinkui called for no compromise unless the EU reduces or removes tariffs on Chinese Fasteners exported to the EU.
According to shangjinkui, some large-scale fastener factories in mainland China have set up factories in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and other places in order to keep the export business and reduce the enterprise losses caused by trade friction.
As one of the global fastener producers, the European Union is also the main customer of Chinese screws, bolts and nuts. The European Union imposes a punitive tax on the steel connectors adopted by China. As a result, China's fastener industry may lose 400 million euros of foreign exchange income and 800000 jobs each year, Reuters reported.
The author learned from bmag (China) Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., the manufacturer of roller mechanism, that after China imposed tariffs on steel connections from the European Union, due to the need for exporters from the European Union to provide certificates of origin, the delivery period was delayed by one month.
Zhu Weigang, global procurement engineer of BMG (China) Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd., told the author that in order to cope with the delayed delivery of imported bolts from the EU and the increase of procurement costs caused by the imposition of tariffs, they are stepping up the localization process of these parts, and some parts are expected to achieve small-scale localization by the end of this month.
