Trade between Beijing and Brussels hit an increased tension note, as on Thursday, the European Commission started investigating into Chinese exports of e-bikes, in order to determine whether they “benefited from excessive state subsidies”.
The case comes as a supplement to an “existing inquiry” whereby it is supposed that the makers of e-bikes in China are “dumping” them in Europe marking the “latest in a string of European Union investigations into and measures on Chinese exports ranging from solar panels to steel”.
In the month of November, a complaint was lodged by the “European Bicycle Manufacturing Association”, in short EBMA, stating that there were various forms of subsidies like that of “preferential loans from state-owned banks, grants, export credits, tax breaks and the provision of land and raw materials at excessively low prices”. According to the association over “430,000 Chinese e-bikes” sales took place in 2016 in EU, while the extrapolated figures for 2017 rise upto “800,0000”.
Annually, Europeans are purchasing around “20 million bicycles” and the ten percent of the same is made up of “e-bikes” which could potentially rise up to take up the quarter sale figures within a span of half a decade. While Reuters added:
“European companies pioneered the pedal-assist technology that e-bikes use and invested 1 billion euros last year, the EBMA said, but risk losing out to Chinese rivals whose share of the EU market has risen to about 33 percent with prices sometimes half those of European makers”.
References:
reuters.com
The case comes as a supplement to an “existing inquiry” whereby it is supposed that the makers of e-bikes in China are “dumping” them in Europe marking the “latest in a string of European Union investigations into and measures on Chinese exports ranging from solar panels to steel”.
In the month of November, a complaint was lodged by the “European Bicycle Manufacturing Association”, in short EBMA, stating that there were various forms of subsidies like that of “preferential loans from state-owned banks, grants, export credits, tax breaks and the provision of land and raw materials at excessively low prices”. According to the association over “430,000 Chinese e-bikes” sales took place in 2016 in EU, while the extrapolated figures for 2017 rise upto “800,0000”.
Annually, Europeans are purchasing around “20 million bicycles” and the ten percent of the same is made up of “e-bikes” which could potentially rise up to take up the quarter sale figures within a span of half a decade. While Reuters added:
“European companies pioneered the pedal-assist technology that e-bikes use and invested 1 billion euros last year, the EBMA said, but risk losing out to Chinese rivals whose share of the EU market has risen to about 33 percent with prices sometimes half those of European makers”.
References:
reuters.com
