China's major lighter producers have won an anti-dumping suit
launched by their European counterparts, the first victory Chinese
firms have won against anti-dumping action filed by European firms
since China joined the World Trade Organization.
Zhou Dahu, president of Wenzhou Lighter Producers' Association
in east China's Zhejiang Province, said that the association has
received official notification from the European Commission saying
the commission officially terminated the anti-dumping case against
Chinese-made lighters.
Zhou is also board chairman of Dahu Lighter Co.
According to the notice, the European Federation of Lighter
Manufacturers (EFLM) had decided not to proceed with the dumping
case, notifying the commission on July 14.
The anti-dumping case started on May 14, 2002, when the EFLM
alleged exports of Chinese-made lighters to the European Union
violated anti-dumping laws, a charge the Chinese side strongly
argued against.
Wenzhou is the major production center for lighters with about
500 lighter producers, which export 600 million lighters a year,
mostly to Europe.
The lighters accounted for about 70 percent of all the metal
lighters on the international market, said Zhou.
The loss of the case would mean a heavy blow to the producers in
Wenzhou.
Last year, at the request of European lighter producers, the
European Union (EU) announced the launching of a dumping
investigation against refillable lighters from China.
Led by the Association of Lighter Producers in Wenzhou, Chinese
lighter makers challenged the charge, and cooperated with EU
investigators, who traveled to Wenzhou several times for field
investigation.
EU investigators later concluded the production cost in
Wenzhouis very low.
Zhou said Chinese lighter producers produced enough evidence to
prove that European counterparts have not been damaged
severely.
Lighters made in China are reusable gas-filled pocket devices,
while those made by their European counterparts who lodged the
dumping charges are plastic, said Zhou.
That means the product mix was totally different, so the Chinese
product could not damage the European manufacturers, he said.
Zhou said Chinese lighter firms were privately-owned and there
were no government subsidies as alleged by the European firms.
Last October, the EU announced after their field investigation
that five major lighter producers from Wenzhou had been awarded the
market economy status as they had applied for.
Zhou said he and other major Chinese lighter producers have
learned a lot about the trade rules of the World Trade Organization
from the case.
"To win anti-dumping cases, you have to do business according to
international trade rules," said Zhou.
Wang Qinhua, chief of the Bureau of Industry Injury of
Investigation of China's Ministry of Commerce, said on Saturday
anti-dumping charges against Chinese manufacturers by overseas
countries totaled 500 by the end of 2002, costing China dozens of
billions of loss in direct exports.
Citing international trade protectionism as the main motive for
the charges, the official said the number of anti-dumping cases
against China accounts for 14 percent of the world's total, ranking
first in the world.
(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2003)