EIFI disappointed by annullment of anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Malaysian fasteners

The European Industrial Fasteners Institute released a statement on March 3, in which it notes with disappointment the publication and entry into force of Regulation 2016/278.
This regulation annuls the anti-dumping duties on iron and steel fasteners originating in China and Malaysia, that were in place because Chinese producers were dumping fasteners on the EU market "causing direct injury to Union producers and the Union market itself".
The duties also applied to fasteners from Malaysia because Chinese traders were using that country to circumvent the duties on China.

According to Anders Karlsson, President of EIFI, "dumping is an unfair trade practice which is subject to sanction under the WTO’s global trade rules. This is because dumping can destroy markets and innovation and drive efficient producers out of business."

The EU fasteners industry is composed by a large number of small and medium sized family producers. It employs directly around 30,000 people across the Union and many more indirectly. The reason for the annulment is that the WTO found that there were procedural mistakes in the Commission investigation leading to the imposition of the duties. Karlsson: "Without fasteners cars, and all other high value EU products, fall apart. Our industry contributes to jobs, innovation and growth in Europe. Without a healthy fastener industry and the daily interplay between producers and users, innovation in our industry and in our customer’s industries simply doesn’t happen."