EU may extend aluminum tariffs for 5 years

Trade protection measures could see foil exporters from China, Brazil pay duties of up to 30 percent

The European Union has threatened to renew tariffs on aluminum foil from China and Brazil for another five years while letting lapse a similar levy against Armenia.

The EU said it would examine whether to re-impose the duties as high as 30 percent on Chinese and Brazilian aluminum-foil exporters such as Shanghai-based Alcoa Aluminum Products Co and Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio.

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In 2009, seeking to protect EU producers including Poland's Grupa Kety SA, Novelis UK Ltd, Greece's Symetal Aluminum Foil Industry SA and Bulgaria's Alcomet, the EU imposed the levies to punish competitors in China, Brazil and Armenia for allegedly having sold the wrapping in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping.

The review of the anti-dumping duties against China and Brazil "will determine whether the expiry of the measures would be likely to lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping," the European Commission, the 28-nation bloc's trade authority in Brussels, said on Saturday in the Official Journal.

The duties against China and Brazil were due to lapse on Tuesday along with a 13.4 percent levy against Armenia and will now stay in place during the probe, which can last as long as 15 months.

The tariffs are 17.6 percent against Brazil and between 6.4 and 30 percent against China, depending on the Chinese exporter. When applying the measures five years ago, 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.

The inquiry into whether to renew the levies stems from a June 30 request by a group of companies including Alcomet, Symetal, Eurofoil Luxembourg SA and Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products GmbH on behalf of producers that account for more than one-quarter of the EU's output of the type of aluminum foil covered by the duties, the commission said on Saturday.

The trade protection covers aluminum foil in rolls as wide as 650 millimeters and a weight exceeding 10 kg, with a thickness between 0.008 and 0.018 mm.