FASTENER INDUSTRY NEWS


Anti-dumping on China fasteners set to continue


Anti-dumping tariffs of up to 85% are set to continue on a wide range of steel fasteners originating in China despite WTO criticism of EU trade defence procedures. The prospect of further anti-circumvention action by the EU also risks the application of retrospective duties on imports from other countries.


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rade defence specialists reviewing a European Commission notice issued in March, which outlines how it intends ensuring its procedures conform to WTO


requirements, see little indication that stringent anti-dumping measures against fasteners from China will be eased. The WTO criticised the EU for not


providing Chinese exporters with opportunities for individual treatment, which could have given them a specific tariff level. The European Commission has now invited exporters that feel they may not have been treated fairly with the opportunity to apply for a review. Analysts, however, believe that any adjustment to tariffs will not be significant and are unlikely to bring the company specific duty below the 77.5% rate already applied to exporters that co- operated with the original investigation. Other actions announced by the


European Commission to conform to WTO requirements are also not expected


to have a significant effect on the measures against China, which are set to continue until at least 2014. Concern also remains high that the


Commission will launch circumvention investigations against other countries - designed to cut off back routes for Chinese fasteners to indirectly enter the EU without paying anti-dumping duties. Last year a circumvention investigation applied the full 85% tariff to fasteners imported from Malaysia, except for those originating from eight factories. The EU is known to be carefully scrutinising trading patterns with at least two other Asian countries, through which significant volumes of Chinese fasteners are suspected of being channelled. Anti-circumvention regulations are


potentially very expensive for unwary importers because the Commission can apply anti-dumping tariffs retrospectively. This means that imports en-route on the date the investigation is announced can be subjected to the full 85% tariff


Spirol answers the call


A military ground assault vehicle manufacturer recently approached Spirol Industries to provide quick delivery of adjustable shim packs for spacing of armoured vehicle door hinges.


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he spacing is critical providing proper sealing and locking engagement of the door systems. Spirol worked with the customer to determine the required adjustment and developed three Edge Bonded Shim Set proposals. The customer selected the Spirol solution as it offered


safe and quick adjustment, a 70% cost reduction and a short manufacturing lead-time. Spirol points out that its Edge Bonded Shim Sets have all the


performance and cost advantages of solid and loose shims, but instead of having to stack a number of individual shims, a single shim set can be quickly adjusted to the desired thickness and slipped into position. In this way, variable close tolerances can be achieved, saving considerably on the time required to pick various different thicknesses of loose shims. “The Spirol solution has also provided cost savings by


reducing assembly time and minimising related inventory storage space. It also provides cost saving advantages


Fastener + Fixing Technology • Issue 5 Apr - Jun 2012


over surface-bonded shims because the materials are less expensive. Edge Bonded Shim packs offer safe adjustment in seconds rather than using time consuming and difficult to peel surface bonded laminates. Safety improvement is realised because no knife is needed to remove the edge-bonded layers. Cost savings can also be realised because the removed layers are reusable functional parts.”


www.spirol.com


unless the exporter has been able to convince EU investigators it is not linked to Chinese fastener production nor reshipping product sourced from China. Experienced, high-volume importers say circumvention investigations are particularly dangerous because of the potential for retrospective duties and also because the burden of proof is on the exporter to demonstrate they are “clean”. One experienced purchasing director explained: “We regularly audit all factories from which we source but in practice it is impossible to be certain a factory will be exempted in the event of a circumvention investigation. We can watch our product coming off the machines but it is impossible to tell whether a proportion of what is shipped, to us or other customers, is being sourced from China. It comes down to close, long-term relationships with factory ownership and making an assessment of the potential risks having audited as thoroughly as possible.”


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