PIFA criticizes tax

3 August 2006


Following the European Commission’s decision to impose “anti dumping” levies on top of existing import duties on plastics bags from China and Thailand, David Tyson, chief executive of UK plastics film industry association PIFA acknowledges that the investigation was exhaustive but describes the proposal as "too little - too late".

He argues: "Anti dumping measures are employed to ensure imports compete on a level playing field and not to create an advantage to any particular part of the world. As a result of the new anti dumping taxes, there is no doubt that some production will now shift to Europe to take up some of the spare capacity created as a result of massive investment in the Far East. However it is also inevitable that, with combined imports from China and Thailand of 146,000t during 2005, we will continue to see products exported from the Far East with the duty included."

The proposal is now expected to pass for ratification to the Council of Ministers but would not be implemented until late September.

PIFA has said that whilst the EU decision will certainly assist the immediate competitiveness of the European producers, without the security of long term guarantees of supply, additional investment in Europe will be limited because the levies will be reviewed after a period of five years.

“This is not an easy situation for companies involved in our industry across Europe to cope with, particularly as there is also fierce competition from other continents in these product areas,” concludes David Tyson.


Related Articles
Scottish bag tax scuppered

Contact

PIFA
Tel: +44 (0)115 942 2445





External weblinks
Converting Today is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

PIFA



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.