EU Hits China, Brazil, Armenia With 5-Year Tax on Aluminum Foil

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union imposed five- year tariffs on aluminum foil from China, Brazil and Armenia to help EU producers including Poland’s Grupa Kety SA compete against cheaper imports. The duties as high as 30 percent punish Chinese, Brazilian and Armenian exporters for selling the wrapping in the 27-nation EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. The levies target such manufacturers as Shanghai-based Alcoa Aluminum Products Co. EU producers that also include Novelis U.K. Ltd., Greece’s Symetal Aluminium Foil Industry SA and Bulgaria’s Alcomet suffered “material injury” as a result of dumped imports from China, Brazil and Armenia, the EU said in a decision today in Brussels. The five-year duties follow provisional levies introduced six months ago and will take effect after being published in the Official Journal by Oct. 8. The tariffs are 17.6 percent on Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio and any other Brazilian exporters, 13.4 percent on Armenia’s Rusal-Armenal and any fellow exporters and as much as 30 percent on Chinese manufacturers. The EU accepted an offer by Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio to sell at a minimum price in return for an exemption from the anti-dumping duty while rejecting a similar proposal by Rusal-Armenal. The six-month levies were as high as 42.9 percent and the EU will refund importers the difference with the lower five-year duties. The trade protection covers aluminum foil in rolls as wide as 650 millimeters (25.6 inches) and a weight exceeding 10 kilograms, with a thickness between 0.008 millimeter and 0.018 millimeter. Market Share China, Brazil and Armenia increased their combined share of the EU market for the product to 49 percent in the 12 months through June 2008 from 14 percent in 2005, according to the bloc. China’s share rose to 30.7 percent from less than 1 percent in the period, while Brazil’s fell to 12.8 percent from 14.1 percent and Armenia’s grew to 5.3 percent from zero, the EU said. The other main countries that export the aluminum foil to the EU are Russia, Turkey and Venezuela, according to the EU, which said in April that none had a market share in the bloc of more than 7.3 percent during the 12 months through June 2008. The duties against China, Brazil and Armenia are the outcome of a probe opened in July 2008 after a dumping complaint by the European Association of Metals.