EU halves its aluminium import duty

Brussels - EU members had agreed to cut by half a 6 percent duty on unalloyed aluminium imports, breaking a deadlock over a plan to scale back protection for EU producers and boost Russian imports, a trade official said yesterday.

European Commission proposals to phase out the levy in two steps by 2009 were watered down after Poland demanded import relief. The bloc's 6 percent import tax on alloyed aluminium will remain.