The TRA says that its anti-dumping proposals could benefit UK excavator producers by up to £3.4m per year.
The proposed duty would vary from 33.03% for Chinese producers that took part in the investigation to 83.5% for those that did not participate.
The proposed tariffs being put to the secretary of state for trade to approve are:
- Liugong – 59%
- Sany – 33.03%
- XCMG – 56.24%
- Sunward – 56.24%
- All other Chinese exporters – 83.5%
TRA chief executive Oliver Griffiths said: “Excavator production is an important component of the UK’s advanced manufacturing sector. Our provisional finding is that UK producers are being undercut significantly by dumped imports from China.”
The TRA, the UK government’s anti-dumping authority, opened its investigation in response to an application from JCB. Its investigation ran from 1st July 2022 to 30th June 2023.
Around 180,000 tonnes of excavators were sold in the UK during the period of investigation with the UK industry supplying between 10-25% of this volume. The UK industry’s market share decreased by 11% over the period.
The TRA found that Chinese exporters were able to use reduced production costs to price their exports below UK competitors who did not benefit from an artificially low-cost base. It determined that UK prices were undercut by a rate of 23.39%.
The TRA has published its initial findings in a statement of essential facts, proposing that an anti-dumping measure be imposed on imports of excavators from China weighing 11 tonnes or more, but less than 80 tonnes. No excavators heavier than 80 tonnes are made in the UK so there is no domestic industry to be harmed by imports.
Interested parties now have until 16th December 2024 to comment on the SEF and can do so through the TRA’s public file.
The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business & Trade, established in 2021 after the passing of the Trade Act 2021 to police post-Brexit trade disputes.
