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A European Union (EU) proposal to levy punitive duties on Chinese leather shoes, the second draft final ruling against the shoes in a month, has angered the country's shoemakers who spoke out yesterday.  

Xie Rongfang, secretary-general of the Shoemakers' Association in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, one of the centers of the industry, said the draft was unfair and vowed that Chinese firms would continue to fight Europe's dumping claims.

 

Late last month EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson proposed a new anti-dumping scheme for shoe imports from China and Viet Nam under which the EU would slap a blanket duty of 16.5 percent on all leather shoe imports from China and 10 percent on those from Viet Nam.

 

Jin Lu Shoes, the only Chinese company to secure market economy status from the European Commission in this case, would be charged 9.7 percent.

 

Although they don't come under the current provisional regime some categories of footwear such as children's shoes would be covered by the new anti-dumping duties which could last as long as five years. European retailers are unhappy with the new proposal with some saying it would be difficult for them to pass the additional costs on to consumers.

 

Mandelson put forward his first draft plan for the final ruling on leather shoes in July. He planned to allow 140 million pairs of Chinese leather shoes into the European market free of duties but impose tariffs of up to 23 percent on additional imports. EU member states like Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Poland rejected the scheme under which 80 percent of Asian imports would be exempted from tariffs. The countries believed the proposal was too weak. The EU then imposed a provisional tariff of 14.5 percent on Chinese leather shoes.

 

Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday that Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng would visit Europe next month for high-level negotiations with the EU over the controversy.

 

For the export of textile products, the China National Textile Industry Council (CNTIC) said in a report that the growth rate of China's textiles and apparel exports to the EU and the United States (US) dropped 45 and 70 percent respectively year on year in the first half year.

 

Last year China reached agreements with both the EU and the US to limit the growth of its textile exports. The CNTIC indicated that the EU and American restrictions on China's textiles and apparel were the main reasons for the decline in the growth of such exports.

 

(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2006)