The European Union (EU) has decided to impose definitive five-year anti-dumping duties of up to 56.2 percent on imports of Chinese polyester filament textiles, Europe Information Service (EIS) reported Monday.

The duties are significant, but less than the 85.3 percent that the European Commission provisionally set in June. The measure also grants lower duties to 45 named companies, many of which are as low as 14.1 percent.

The commission's nine-month investigation found that between April 2003 and March 2004, the EU's industry had seen production and sales volumes and market share fall by one fifth.

The probe found that EU demand was relatively stable during the investigation period, at 732 million meters. But the Chinese imports had risen from 135 million meters in 2000 to 288 million meters during the investigation period, said the EIS.

In November 2002, the EU set definitive anti-dumping duties of up to 7.9 percent on imports of polyester textured filament yarn from India. It had also slapped duties of up to 35.4 percent on polyester staple fiber imports from South Korea and India in 2000.

In 2002, it set anti-dumping duties of 21 percent on imports of synthetic polyesters staple fibers from Belarus, halving the 43.5 percent duties imposed in 1996.

Source: Xinhua