BRUSSELS (BRAIN) — European bicycle manufacturers plan to keep the pressure on Chinese bicycle manufacturers and are now taking aim at what the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association calls a flood of e-bikes jeopardizing European jobs and manufacturing.
EMBA is alleging Chinese manufacturers are undercutting the home market with "heavily subsidized, illegally dumped Chinese e-bikes sold below their cost of production."
EMBA's secretary general, Moreno Fioravanti, in a statement, said the association has filed a complaint with the European Commission demanding that imports from China be registered. He urged that the EC impose anti-dumping duties on the e-bikes. EMBA filed the complaint last week. At present Chinese manufacturers pay a 6 percent duty on e-bikes.
Meanwhile, the EC announced in early September that an anti-dumping duty of 48.5 percent imposed in the late 1990s on Chinese-made bicycles would officially expire June 6, 2018. But commissioners said European manufacturers within the 28-member EU could seek a review of that expiration date which would effectively extend the anti-dumping duties another nine months. EMBA is expected to ask for such a review.
As for e-bikes, Fioravanti said Chinese imports in the first seven months of 2017 have already exceeded all of last year's volume. "Imports into the EU of e-bikes from China increased from virtually zero in 2010 to a level likely over 800,000 in 2017," he said, urging the EC to start an investigation immediately.
"European manufacturers invented the electrically power assisted pedal technology and the most recent innovation, the center engine system, which revolutionized the industry. With over 90,000 direct and indirect skilled workers, the EU bicycle industry has invested over 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion) in e-bike development in 2016 alone. Hence, major EU investments, innovation and competiveness, as well as substantial employment and the protection of the environment, would be at risk without the imposition of measures," said Fioravanti.
The Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry, CONEBI, claims that e-bike production capacity in China stood at 51 million units in 2016 with Chinese consumers buying about 28 million units. CONEBI estimates that there exists an over capacity of 23 million units, more than ten times total European demand.
In contrast, total 2016 EU production was just over one million e-bikes, a 13 percent increase over 2015. CONEBI claims that growth would have been higher except for the flood of "dumped" e-bikes.
Overall, the European market is booming, but the explosion in growth of dumped Chinese e-bikes is rapidly taking away market share from EU producers and will annihilate European production within only a few years if legitimate trade defense measures are not imposed by the EU.
"The European Commission must stop China dumping e-bikes and immediately register imports so anti-dumping duties can be applied retroactively. We are confident the European Commission will find that China is dumping e-bikes on a massive scale and that is causing material injury to European manufacturers.
"Anti-dumping measures are clearly in the EU's interest because e-bikes are a strategic, innovative industry for Europe's green and smart e-mobility future, and European consumers and suppliers all want local EU production to prosper," the statement said.
