China rejects EU charges of unfair trade in aluminium wheels

Beijing - The Chinese government and Chinese aluminium wheel manufacturers Tuesday rejected dumping charges and said an investigation requested by European manufacturers runs counter to World Trade Organization rules. The European Wheel Association (EWA), which represents six aluminium wheel companies, filed a complaint to the European Commission in June, accusing China of dumping its products in the European market and undercutting local businesses. "The EWA move is against WTO rules. Its petition to the EMS did not mention the names of the six European manufacturers; that is not allowed," a source inside the Ministry of Commerce was quoted as saying by the state-run China Daily on Tuesday. A statement posted on the ministry's website Friday said Chinese-made aluminium wheels are widely used by European carmakers, including Audi AG, Volkswagen AG and BMW AG. In the statement, the ministry refuted the dumping claims. "According to China's customs' statistics, from July 2008 to May 2009 China's export of aluminium wheels amounted to less than 8 per cent of the EU market, and will not damage this market. It is not necessary to have an anti-dumping investigation," the statement said. Chinese manufacturers also objected to the planned investigation. "It's unfair to be treated this way, it's a sort of trade protectionism," Chen Bing, the general manager of Zhejiang-based Wanfeng Auto Wheels, was quoted as saying by the China Daily. The anti-dumping case is the third that Europe has launched against China this year, and the largest by volume, totalling 400 million dollars, according to the China Daily. source:www.earthtimes.org