After textiles, EU raises alarm on Chinese shoes

‘‘The European Commission has noted the concerns of the EU footwear industry that this rise is causing considerable market disruptions to EU producers,’’ the EC said.

The EU’s executive said there had been a year-on-year rise of 681 per cent in imports of six categories of Chinese footwear in the first four months of this year, with shipments of some shoes jumping by well over 1,000 per cent. Prices dropped by 28 per cent over the same period.

‘‘We have just had these figures, we are looking at them and we are reflecting on what course of action we should take,’’ Commission spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville said.

‘‘We will not shy away to act: to act is to take anti-dumping measures,’’ she added, making it clear that the EU would impose special import duties if it was proved that China was using unfair pricing to the detriment of European industry. — Reuters