Today (7 April 2022), the European Commission has imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of graphite electrodes from China.
These measures follow an investigation which showed that Chinese graphite electrodes were being sold in the EU at significantly dumped prices. EU producers of graphite electrodes were unable to compete with such prices and suffered injury as a result. The measures undertaken by the European Commission protect EU producers from such unfair trade practices.
Graphite electrodes are used in steel production and are an essential component for the world’s recycling industry, since they are the only product that can conduct the power and withstand the heat necessary to melt scrap metal. The EU market for graphite electrodes is worth €765 million.
The anti-dumping duties on graphite electrodes from China have been set at between 25.5% and 74.9%. Without such measures, EU producers of graphite electrodes would be unable to use their production capacities fully and would face further losses.
At the same time, the EU measures are mindful of the needs of EU users of graphite electrodes. Certain types of graphite electrodes – currently produced in very small quantities in the European Union – are excluded from the measures and thus their stable supply remains guaranteed.