The European Commission today published its Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/265 imposing EU anti-dumping measures to tackle imports of ceramic wall and floor tiles from India and Turkey for a period of 5 years
Vicente Nomdedeu, ASCER’s Chairman, praised the European Commission’s efforts to defend trade but also expressed concerns that the measures would prove insufficient in order to stop the mass entry of ceramic tiles from India
The applicable anti-dumping rate ranges between 6.7% and 8.7 in the case of Indian products and between 4.8% and 20.9% for those from Turkey
Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director General and Chief Trade Policy Enforcement Officer for the EU, today announced at ASCER’s headquarters the favourable outcome of the anti-dumping investigation, and the imposition of an anti-dumping duty on ceramic tile imports to the European Union from India and Turkey. Redonnet made this announcement following his visit to a ceramic tile manufacturing plant and a meeting with representatives of the ceramic tile cluster at ASCER’s headquarters.
In December 2021, the European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation into ceramic tile imports from India and Turkey at the request of the European ceramic tile industry, represented by the CET (European Ceramic Tile Manufacturers’ Federation), of which ASCER is a member. The European Commission’s thorough and rigorous investigation revealed that dumping practices were being used for the entry of ceramic tiles from these two countries, impacting negatively on the European sector. Depending on the company and the degree of collaboration in the procedure, in the case of India the measures proposed range from 6.7% to 8.7% and for Turkey from 4.8% to 20.9%. See official publication at this link.
ASCER’s Chairman expressed his gratitude to companies from Spain and other EU member states for their collaboration and efforts. He also thanked the various organisations involved in the process for their support, namely the CET, the European Commission’s trade defence services and the Spanish Government’s Secretary of State for Trade.
ASCER rates the announcement extremely positively, although it considers that the anti-dumping duty imposed on India will not have the desired deterrent effect on mass imports from this country. It is therefore important to step up monitoring of the application of these measures over the first year in order to initiate European proceedings if it is detected that imports absorb the duty and continue to damage the industry.
Denis Redonnet, Deputy Director General and Chief Trade Policy Enforcement Officer for the EU, together with several members of his team, today visited a ceramic tile production plant and later held a meeting with representatives from three associations in the ceramic tile cluster (ASCER, ANFFECC and ASEBEC). Also present at the meeting were the Regional Secretary for the European Union and External Relations, Joan Calabuig; MEP Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero; and the Director General for Trade Policy from the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Juan Francisco Martínez.
The representatives of the sector explained to the team from the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade the various obstacles companies encounter when exporting, such as quality certification in Saudi Arabia or registration in Egypt. According to the president of ASCER, Vicente Nomdedeu, “This visit is important as it has allowed European Commission interlocutors to obtain a first-hand insight into the industry and its problems”.
Last September, ASCER’s Chairman and Secretary General attended a meeting with the Directorate General for Trade in Brussels, during which they extended an invitation to visit the ceramic tile sector in order to gain a deeper vision of its problems and the importance of the ceramic tile cluster for the province’s economy.
Access the visit and meeting photographs
