China fastener makers weigh price controls to avoid EU dumping duties

BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Chinese media) -- China's screw and fastener

exporters are concerned that they face anti-dumping duties of up to 87 percent

in the markets of the European Union (EU) and might set internal price controls

to avert European action, an industry expert said on Sunday.

Anti-dumping moves in the EU would aggregate the

plight of the Chinese exporters, whose orders have fallen amid the world

financial crisis, Sheng Rui, an export department official with Shanghai Prime

Machinery Co. Ltd., told Chinese media.

On Wednesday, the European Commission (EC) voted to

adopt anti-dumping duties of 63 to 87 percent on China-made fasteners over the

next five years. The vote must be approved by trade ministers of the 27-nation

bloc within a month before it comes into force.

China's industry players have offered to impose

strict price controls, with domestic exporters to observe a price level agreed

with the EC.

Sheng's company is among the 200 domestic firms

involved in the case. The combined value of their exports to the EU reached 575

million euros (736 million U.S. dollars) last year, which makes the case one of

the biggest EU anti-dumping cases against China.

In Sheng's company, more than 500 workers have

already had their hours cut as a result of lower orders.

The company, the country's largest fastener

manufacturer and exporter, sells in 93 overseas markets. The EU market was

expected to account for 35 to 40 percent of the company's fastener exports this

year, Sheng said.

"We will have to cut jobs if the duty is levied and

many small companies will have to shut down," he said.

For Chinese exporters, stakes are high. The duties

could mean they will be squeezed out of the European market, which accounts for

one-third of the industry's exports.

"If there is a high anti-dumping duty, about 800,000

workers will lose their jobs," said Zhang Feng, deputy secretary-general of the

Jiaxing Association of Fastener Import and Export Companies, a lobbying group

that is mounting a legal challenge in the case.

The EC decided in November 2007 to initiate an

anti-dumping probe into Chinese-made screws and bolts.