Tariffs on Chinese imports will hurt the competitiveness of EU paint industry.
CEPE is urging member states to reject a European Commission (EC) proposal to impose antidumping duties on imports of titanium dioxide (TiO2) from China.
TiO2 is a core raw material for coatings makers accounting for up to 40% of the raw materials cost and 20% of the cost of the finished product.
The duties threaten the viability of the 33 billion/year EU paints sector, which employs more than 150,000 people.
In July 2024, the EC imposed provisional duties on Chinese TiO2 imports, for six months and member states will vote on the latest proposal next week.
“Should the member states confirm the proposal, it will heavily impact the paints sector, one of the largest users of TiO2,” said Christel Davidson, managing director of CEPE.
“The commission is demonstrating a short-term approach to EU competitiveness. We fear that the impact of these duties on the paints sector, especially to small companies and related industries such as the construction sector will outweigh any short-term relief for European manufacturers of TiO2.
“European TiO2 suppliers are currently unable to meet the EU industry’s demand and imports from China are thus hard to substitutem” Davidson said.
“One likely consequence is that paint manufacturers in the EU will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage compared to manufacturers in other parts of the world, who can continue sourcing TiO2 from China at lower prices and sell their paints on the EU market.”
CEPE is also concerned about the broader implications for EU manufacturers that export their products outside Europe.
The rise in production costs will make EU-based companies less competitive on the global stage, reducing exports and threatening the market position of European manufacturers.
“Overall, investment in the EU paints sector is expected to become less attractive, which will have a direct impact on European suppliers of TiO2,” Davidson said. “This would be an unfortunate outcome for a measure meant to shield Europeans from unfair foreign competition. We hope that member states will closely analyze the situation and vote against the decision of the EC to impose these duties when they meet next week.”
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1923 of 10 July 2024 imposing a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports of titanium dioxide originating in the People’s Republic of China.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2024/1923
