Importing cheap products has negative consequences for European industry. The European Union has instruments to limit unfair competition.

What happens when a sector is flooded with cheap imports?

Euronews was in the Emilia Romagna region, the nerve center of the Italian ceramics industry.

The sector's turnover represents around 8 billion euros but faces some obstacles.

“The ceramics sector is at great risk, due to the invasion, so to speak, of products from India, because they export material below cost,” Graziano Verdi, Executive Director of the Italcer Group, told euronews.

"The industry faces unfair competition. We run the risk of having perhaps the cleanest atmosphere with zero emissions, because we will have lost our industrial network", highlighted Inès Van Lierde, Co-President of AEGIS Europe.

Tiles from India below production cost
In this Italian region, the ceramics sector employs around 20 thousand people. But jobs and production itself are threatened by cheap tiles from India, which do not respect the same labor and environmental standards.

"In a few years, they obtained 7% of the market share in Europe and, in the last year, they increased by more than 60%", said Graziano Verdi.

Competition from China
The ceramics sector has already faced a similar situation with China.

"For China, Europe made the right decision quickly by imposing adequate taxation. Currently, China does not represent even 1% of the European market", explained Graziano Verdi.

The situation is different for tableware in Europe. A market dominated by Chinese products at very low prices.

"There are very few companies in Italy and Europe that still produce tableware, because most of the companies were destroyed", lamented Graziano Verdi.
Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures
In the European Union, anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures aim to protect European companies from importing products at artificially low prices.

The objective is to prevent products from entering the market at prices lower than those charged on the domestic market, or even lower than production costs.

The regulation on foreign subsidies was launched in 2023 to prevent foreign countries from winning multi-million public tenders based on state aid.

"When the State behaves like, I would say, a banker without limits, injecting a lot of money into certain sectors, it is obvious that it is possible to create infinite capabilities", lamented Inès Van Lierde, Co-President of AEGIS Europe.

Bicycle industry focuses on quality

In 2019, anti-dumping tariffs were introduced to protect the European electric bicycle industry. Imports from China fell by more than 80%.

In Heeten, the Netherlands, the company Nijland manufactures bicycles for people with mobility problems. A family business with over 30 years that focuses on local production.

"Bikes have to be really safe, they have to have a high standard of quality. We do everything in-house - the design, the construction, the painting, the wheel assembly, the final assembly and the quality control.", said Koen Nijland , Director of Nijland Cycling.

The impact on job creation in Europe
Cargo Cycling produces bicycles for deliveries based on two principles: safety and quality.

"These bicycles are used in the most brutal way imaginable. "It is necessary to have good products and high quality, so protection, in the sense of establishing norms and standards, will be very important for the future of our industry", he told euronews Jeroen Beumer, Commercial Director at Cargo Cycling.

"And when we can manufacture these products in our own country, it is very good for giving people jobs", added the official.