EU sets duties on Chinese construction machinery

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission said on Monday it had imposed duties of up to 66.7% on imports of Chinese machines that lift construction workers after concluding that the producers were benefiting from unfair subsidies and selling at artificially low prices.

The extra duties on Chinese mobile access equipment (MAE) will range from 20.6% to 66.7%, the Commission said, as it sought to protect domestic producers in the EU market worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) per year.

The tariffs are the latest in a series of EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties focused on Chinese imports, including a high-profile investigation into Chinese-built electric vehicles, which culminated last October.

The EU executive, which conducted the investigation, said Chinese MAE producers had benefited from preferential financing, grants, state provision of inputs at below-market rates.

The Commission said Chinese producers had gained a 41% market share in the year from October 2022, from 29% in 2020, and sold at prices some 20% below EU competitors.

The tariffs will apply to Chinese companies such as Hunan Sinoboom Intelligent Equipment Co, Zoomlion Intelligent Access Machinery and Zhejiang Dingli Machinery Co. EU MAE producers include French companies Haulotte and Manitou.

The European Union now has in place anti-dumping or anti-subsidy duties on almost 80 Chinese products from truck tyres to ironing boards.

($1 = 0.8800 euros)

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by David Evans)