Controversial EU crockery tax levied on Chinese ceramics

Extra charges, introduced from midnight on Thursday night, were announced by the European Commission on Thursday morning, giving traders just 24 hours? notice of the changes impacting the ?730m (?588m)-a-year market.

?Let?s be clear ? these new duties will feed through to higher prices in stores,? said Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium.

?And, because China mainly supplies the value end of the market, they will deny less well-off customers access to affordable crockery.?

The Commission?s decision came after an investigation into claims by an anonymous European manufacturer that Chinese producers set artificially low prices.

But Mr Robertson said the duties will not benefit European producers since they lack the capacity to produce crockery cheaply enough, instead forcing member states to turn to other low-cost Asian countries for affordable ceramics.

The levy, which will apply to every cargo of ceramic tableware and ovenware arriving in the EU from China, will be reviewed in May.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568344/s/25a1745c/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cfinance0Cnewsbysector0Cretailandconsumer0C9681930A0CControversial0EEU0Ecrockery0Etax0Elevied0Eon0EChinese0Eceramics0Bhtml/story01.htm

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