The European Union (EU) recently announced its decision to register all aluminium profiles coming from China as a part of their anti-dumping measures.
Following a complaint filed by the European Aluminium Association, the EU launched a probe in aluminium profiles from China. The association alleged that the imports of extrusion material from China have increased in past five years while that of processed products have doubled.
The EU instructed its customs authorities to take appropriate steps to register imported products so that anti-dumping measures can be taken against these products like aluminium bars, profiles (solid and hollow), and pipes, from their date of registration.
The EU said that these unprocessed products can be used in the production of structural parts and that extruded aluminium products are made of aluminium alloys or non-alloys with 99.3pc of aluminium content.
The Commission has also launched an investigating into anti-dumping allegations against certain aluminium rolled products originating in China. The association said that it is now clear that Chinese companies are not complying with the global rules of free and fair trade. The excess capacity accumulated by the Chinese aluminium industry has the potential to replace aluminium production throughout Europe.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report “Measuring the Distortion of the International Market: Aluminium Value Chain”, Chinese aluminium producers received huge government subsidies to boost production enabling them to sell below production costs.
Between 2013-2017, global aluminium companies received up to $70bn in different forms of support. It is worth noting that 85pc of the recorded subsidies went to five Chinese companies.
Al Rolled Products
The European metal body said the export of rolled aluminium products from China to the EU (a type within the scope of the investigation) rose to 330,000mt in 2019 from 171,000mt in 2016. The market share of imports from China reached more than 12pc, doubling from 4 years ago.
Carbon Intensity Comparison
The report suggested that the dumped products are endangering the European investment in decarbonization and recycling.
The carbon intensity of European primary aluminium production is at the lowest of about 7kg CO2/kg aluminium as against the global average is 17kg CO2/kg aluminium. The average carbon intensity of Chinese primary aluminium in China is 20 kg CO2/kg aluminium.
Emission Norms
European aluminium’s production follows higher standards in industrial emissions, waste management, human rights, governance and transparency rules.
The association said it is detrimental for low-carbon emission ensuring the growing use of renewable energy, batteries, power systems, resource-efficient packaging, energy-efficient buildings, and cleaner production mechanisms.