federation of aluminium consumers in europe
Intervention of FACE on RAI1: Chinese antidumping and import tariffs
FACE had the immense honor to be invited on RAI1 -Italy’s national state broadcaster, and the most-watched television channel in the country- to comment on the EU chinese antidumping measures and the 6% import tariff.
The interview sequence achieved a share of 14,3% with 1 million and 416 thousands viewers (according to HDRÀ):
Mario Conserva, FACE Secretary General, further commented:
“Aluminium, the duty on raw imports is the brake to be lifted for the restart of the industry.
The recent European anti-dumping measures on Chinese-produced aluminium extrusions are a very significant measure to defend the competitiveness of the European downstream light metal system, the heart of an industrial segment that represents about 90% of turnover and employees in Europe, with rolling, extrusion, foundry and diecasting production, machining and finishing.
Excellent initiative, fully supported by FACE, of the European Commission to protect our manufacturing companies from long-standing unfair Chinese competition with anti-dumping tariffs ranging from just over 30% up to 48% on aluminium bars, tubes and profiles from China, measures that if definitively confirmed will remain in force for 5 years.
But on the subject of duties, now is the time to address the central question of another type of tariff, the one we have had for years in the EU on the import of unwrought metal, born in the days when we were talking only about primary aluminum that was produced in large quantities in Europe in all countries, protected from non-European imports with a duty of 6%. But this protection no longer makes sense to exist because the EU production of primary aluminum has been disappearing for years due to the free relocation of smelters, more than 70% of the internal EU requirement of primary aluminum must now be covered by imports.
The cost of this type of duty for the EU aluminium downstream, an illogical measure for a product of which there is a clear production shortage, has been calculated at over 1 billion euros per year for the European industry that transforms and uses light metal, the elimination of this tariff, that FACE has been calling for more than 20 years, is a simple measure to take, quick, without costs, it does not harm anyone and in the spirit of the post Covid measures proposed by the Commission it would represent a measure of great importance to give new impetus to European industry Italian aluminum.“
