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

 

Xie Rongfang, secretary-general of the shoemakers' association in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, one of the centers of the industry in China, said the draft was unfair, vowing that Chinese firms would continue to fight the dumping claim.

 

Late last month, EU Trade Commission 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 imports from Viet Nam.

 

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

 

Although they do not 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 much as five years.

 

European retailers are unhappy with the new proposal, with some saying that it would be difficult for them to pass the additional costs on to consumers.

 

In July, Mandelson put forward his first draft plan for the final ruling on leather shoes.

 

He planned to let 140 million pairs of Chinese leather shoes come into the European market free of duties, but impose tariffs of up to 23 percent on additional imports of leather shoes from China.

 

EU member states such as Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Poland rejected the scheme, under which 80 percent of Asian imports would be exempted from tariffs, believing that it 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 will visit Europe next month for high-level negotiations with the European Union on the controversy.

 

(China Daily August 4, 2006)