The EU imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of Russian aluminum foil on Friday after its investigation showed the product was sold across the bloc at below market prices, the EU’s Official Journal said.
A definitive anti-dumping duty of 12.2 percent is to be levied on aluminum foil from Russia, which is all made by the Rusal group, the world’s largest aluminum producer.
“The [European] Union industry suffered material injury, which was reflected most notably in the negative profitability almost during the entire period considered,” the Official Journal said.
The European Commission had already imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on Russian aluminum foil imports in July.
Definitive anti-dumping duties normally last five years.
Rusal said in an e-mailed statement that it considered the decision “unfair and based on unjustified conclusions.”
The aluminum market is suffering from oversupply, putting downward pressure on prices.
Benchmark aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange have slumped nearly 20 percent this year.
In related news, China has formally accepted a petition from Chinese producers of distillers’ dried grains (DDGs) seeking anti-dumping duties on imports of the feed ingredient from the US, according to a report by US agricultural attaches in Beijing.
The producers are also seeking countervailing duties, also known as anti-subsidy duties, on DDG imports, the report said.
The US embassy received notification of Beijing’s acceptance of the petition on Tuesday, it said.
Under that nation’s law, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce must make a decision on whether to start an investigation within 60 days of accepting a complaint, but it often makes decisions faster than that, the report said.
The US is the world’s top exporter and China is the top buyer of DDGs, a protein-rich byproduct of corn ethanol used as a substitute for corn and soymeal in animal feed. Chinese imports of DDGs in the first 10 months of this year rose to 5.9 million tonnes, up 14.3 percent from the same period a year ago, as feed mills sought alternatives to expensive domestic corn.
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