goods

Published on
15/04/2026 – 11:25 GMT+2

The European Commission on Wednesday imposed anti-dumping duties on glass fibre —a key input for the EU’s renewable industry— produced by Chinese companies operating in Egypt, Bahrain and Thailand.

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The move confirms the EU’s push to curb Chinese imports entering the bloc via Belt and Road routes to sidestep tariffs on products officially labelled “made in China.”

Brussels seeks to shield its market from a surge of low-cost imports from the Asian giant, targeting goods it considers heavily subsidized or sold in the EU below production cost in China.

The tariffs on glass fibre from the three countries will range from 11% to 25.4% of the product’s value.

“The investigation confirms the existence of unfair practice, which is an important signal,” Ludovic Piraux, President of Glass Fibre Europe, said.

But he added that the measures adopted “remain insufficient to fully address the predatory strategies pursued through these investments in third countries.”

Job losses loom

China has invested $1 trillion through the Belt and Road initiative – a large-scale infrastructure programme which replaced the former silk road initiative and is aimed at strengthening connectivity, trade and communication across Eurasia, Latin America and Africa. The programme spans more than 150 countries, supporting infrastructure, transport, raw materials extraction and the relocation of industries and state-owned enterprises abroad.

As early as 2010, following an industry complaint, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese glass fibre imports. In the years that followed, Chinese producers established factories in Bahrain and Egypt, from which exports to the EU resumed.

By 2024, glass fibre imports from those countries, along with Thailand, accounted for 24% of the EU market. Egyptian imports alone reached 18%, with Glass Fibre Europe warning the situation could worsen.

This is not the first time the Commission has targeted Chinese products made in third countries under Belt and Road arrangements. It has previously imposed measures on aluminium foil from Thailand and glass fibre produced in Türkiye.

European glass fibre manufacturers have been pushing for action for more than a decade, alongside unions seeking to protect jobs in the sector.

The complaint which lead to Wednesday’s anti-dumping duties was first reported by Euronews in January 2025.

The industry directly employs more than 4,500 workers in the EU and says it supports hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs along the value chain.

Judith Kirton-Darling, General secretary of industriAll Europe, warned that “in the longer term”, the situation could worsen if the EU does not take “a stronger” stance on Chinese dumping.

“It is more than likely that we will face plant closures in Europe which will fundamentally undermine our industry,” she said.

April 7 (UPI) — Fire ripped through a Kimberly-Clark paper goods warehouse early Tuesday in Ontario, Calif., spewing smoke and ash into the sky in a tremendous black plume.

The blaze was first reported about 1:45 a.m., and responders from the Ontario Fire Department found heavy smoke and fire when arriving. More than 100 emergency personnel from that and at least four other departments worked to contain the fire into the day.

Officials said about 20 people were at the 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse when the fire broke out; there were no initial reports of injuries.

The fire department warned area residents, especially seniors and children, of poor air quality connected with heavy smoke and ash from the blaze and advised people to remain inside.

Ontario Deputy Fire Chief Mike Wedell told KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that the fire department identified the blaze as “suspicious in nature.” Police were questioning a warehouse employee in connection with the fire.

A Kimberly-Clark representative told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that a third-party partner operated the warehouse and that the company was working with that partner and local authorities. Kimberly-Clark, based in Irving, Texas, manufactures mostly paper products, including brands such as Cottonelle, Scott, Huggies and Kleenex.