The European Commission considers the glass fibre industry in Europe to still need protecting against Chinese imports. At the end of April 2017, the competition authority thus converted the provisional anti-dumping measures it introduced in 2014 into definitive duties. The products concerned include chopped glass fibre strands of up to 50 mm in length, certain rovings and also glass fibre filament mats. The producers’ association GlassFibreEurope (formerly APFE, Brussels / Belgium; www.glassfibreeurope.eu) had requested a review of the provisional measures that were due to expire.

The EU competition authority stated that its recent investigation had shown that the measures imposed in 2014 were having a positive effect. If the measures were to be lifted, however, this would leave the European industry exposed to price dumping from China once again. The duties – made up of compensatory and anti-dumping measures – range from 4.9 to a good 30%, depending on the producer.

The reason for the continuing pressure from the Far East is China’s considerable excess capacity, which the EU authority estimated to be some 150,000 t/y for the year 2015, plus the state support measures. And the excess capacity is reported to have doubled in the meantime. The year after the measures were introduced in 2014, imports from China halved to 77,500 t – with the average cost of the goods rising and the European producers experiencing an increase in their market share ever since.

The competition authority claims that the attraction of the European market is also reflected in the activities of Jushi in Egypt. Its capacity has so far not been affected by the compensatory measures, even though the company’s share of imports into the EU has increased considerably over the past few years.