The dumping case on e-bikes and speed pedelecs imported from China into the EU has been initiated by EBMA. On what grounds EBMA’s dumping case is based, can be researched in full by inspecting the 41 page Complaint document (open version) which is available for download on this webpage.
Heavy State-subsidies
As said, in this dumping complaint document EBMA mentions specific allegations against Bafang. It says that “As bicycles and e-bikes are a clear focus area in China’s 12th and even more in China’s 13th 5-Year Plan for Bicycles, the Chinese bicycle producers have thereby been able to obtain heavy State-subsidies from authorities at provincial, regional and local levels. These subsidies have enabled the Chinese e-bike producers and their suppliers, most importantly Bafang, the main Chinese producer of e-bike engines, to catch up quickly with the EU industry in terms of knowhow.
EBMA: Bafang spurred China’s export growth
The EBMA Complaint document furthers with “As stated above, moving into the middle and high-end segments and increasing exports have been clear focus areas under the 12th and 13th 5-Year Plans. As a consequence, imports into the EU of e-bikes from China increased from virtually zero at the beginning of the decade to approximately 220,000 pieces in 2014. Initially imports of e-bikes from China were mainly entry level e-city bikes with hub engines.
However, once Bafang, the largest Chinese producer of e-bike engine systems, managed to build a reliable centre engine, Chinese producers were able to enter new and growing market segments (for example the e-mtb, which is increasingly equipped with centre engines only). As a result, Chinese producers were better able to participate in the growth (potential) of the EU e-bike market, in particular in the e-mtb segment, and imports of e-bikes from China skyrocketed to over 311,000 pieces in 2015, to over 433,000 pieces in 2016, and to 519,000 pieces in the Investigation Period (2016 Q2 to 2017 Q1).”
For more on EBMA’s allegations against the Chinese industry as well as Bafang, download the Complaint document on this page.
EBMA-Complaint-under-Article-5-of-Regulation-2016-1036
