The government yesterday announced that it would start investigating whether imports of China-made shoes constitute dumping as alleged by local shoemakers, according to a statement posted on the Ministry of Finance's Web site.
This is the second time Taiwan has initiated anti-dumping action against China since both countries joined the WTO in 2002.
On June 1, the Ministry of Finance started levying a 204.1 percent anti-dumping tax on Chinese towels for five years.
Since the domestic market was opened to Chinese footwear in 2003, imports of shoes made in China have surged to account for 80 percent of total imports over the past three years.
However, the prices of these shoes are only about one-fourth of local products', according to the nation's footwear manufacturing association.
Taiwan's shoe production volume has been affected and contracted factories have lost orders, leading to successive cases of layoffs, salary cuts and even plant closures, the statement read.
Moreover, Chinese shoes are estimated to have a "dumping margin" of 283.75 percent on average, according to the footwear association's statistics.
The dumping margin refers to the amount by which the normal value exceeds the export price of the subject merchandise.
Regulations require the Ministry of Economic Affairs to submit its preliminary report within the next 40 days to determine whether Chinese imports have disrupted the local industry.
The EU voted last week to adopt new anti-dumping measures against footwear imported from China.
The EU decided to levy an import duty of 16.5 percent in place of the previous temporary duty of 19.4 percent.
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