19 Jan Stainless steel kegs: new duties for Chinese products
Following the anti-dumping investigation promoted by European producers of stainless steel kegs for beverages, the European Union ruling has arrived. This ruling is based on Article 19b of EU Regulation 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on “Protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union”.
The anti-dumping investigation concerned imports of refillable stainless steel kegs from the People’s Republic of China. Now, the European Union has decided to provide a summary of the proposed provisional duties, with the details of the calculations of the respective anti-dumping duties being sent to exporting manufacturers.
The products subject to duties
The products subject to provisional duties are drums, containers, tanks, barrels and the like, with the following characteristics:
- Refillable
- Stainless steel
- Roughly cylindrical bodies
- Wall thicknesses equal to or greater than 0.5 mm
- Capacities equal to or greater than 4.5 litres
- Currently classed under CN Codes Ex 7310 10 00 and Ex 7310 29 90 (TARIC Codes 7310 10 0010 and 7310 29 90 10)
Essentially, containers commonly known as “refillable stainless steel kegs” will now be subject to duties, regardless of the type of finish, gauge, or grade of stainless steel. The duties will be applied regardless of additional components, such as draft taps, necks, fittings, any other accessory component, painting, or coating with any other material.
However, the following are not included in the scope of the investigation: draft taps, necks, fittings, collars, valves and other components imported separately from the product under investigation.
For AEB KEGS, as well as for other producers of stainless steel drums, kegs and containers for beverages, it will now be possible to operate on the European market by the logic of fair competition, after years in which our production costs very often coincided with the sale prices of Chinese manufacturers.
