EBMA Denies Request for Dumping Investigation on China Made E-Bikes
If we take a step back here: "
Dumping" is predatory pricing that occurs when manufacturers export a product to another country at a price either below the price charged in its home market or below its cost of production.
That isn’t what appears to be happening here: There are many e-bikes selling in the UK right now at a retail price of £700-£900 (as eMTB examples: Zipper, Greenway, Eco-Expedition amongst others) whose directly equivalent models sell at a full retail price of around £450 in China. A Chinese bike made and sold for £450 in their home market... then add shipping, import duty, VAT, marketing/warehousing/distribution and financing, and a fair profit margin for doing all this... a UK importer/retailer (to include user support and warranty) is quite fairly charging £700+ here in the UK. That isn’t “dumping” or predatory pricing at all. Any move to impose extra duties ("ADT") on importing Chinese-made e-bikes (if there is such a move) is IMHO simply the larger European manufacturers (predominantly the Germans and Dutch) trying to impose duties on the competition to protect their own sales given their own less efficient/higher-costs of production.
As others here have already implied, would we really expect the European Bicycle Manufacturers’ Association to openly confirm moves are being made to impose ADT on Chinese-made e-bikes and create resistance/panic? And do we really think the Chinese government would be writing to their e-bike manufacturers advising of the possibility of such a change for the sheer hell of it? Something is afoot... although whether it comes to fruition is a different matter.