European Union Up Against Chinese Imports

May 29, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on May 2006 Same story, different locale.

The German daily newspaper “Die Welt” is reporting that furniture is set to become the next big issue in an ongoing European Union-China debate over anti-dumping. European furniture makers plan to file a complaint to Brussels about cheap Chinese upholstery flooding the market.

Furniture producers are calling for punitive tariffs on upholstery coming in from China, saying Chinese suppliers are shipping sofas for sell in Europe at prices below the cost of making them. Leather sofas are being sold for about 100 Euro in Europe—that’s just over $127.

Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner, is reportedly working on a report to be released in September on challenges such as market access, investment and intellectual property. The paper said that manufacturers in southern European countries, Belgium and Germany are being hit hard by the imports. The European furniture industry is worth about 2.5 billion Euro, or just over $3 billion.