"The EU Council has decided not to levy anti-dumping taxes on made-in-China 14-inch color kinescopes," said an official with the China National Electronics Import and Export Caihong Co.

This decision represents a major breakthrough in the company's attempt to break into the European market, he told China Daily in a telephone interview.

Dutch electronics giant Philips last June charged Chinese 14-inch color kinescope manufacturers with dumping at a level of 48.4 percent, or in other words, of offering television tubes at a price that was half that of the standard market value.

Caihong, China's only exporter of such products, quickly responded to the charges, and the immediacy of the response was a major factor in their success regarding the case, said the official.

In its first verdict last April, the EU committee decided to levy a 11-percent anti-dumping tax on made-in-China 14-inch color kinescopes.

But Caihong was ultimately able to prove that Philips sells its 14-inch color kinescopes at a lower price than Caihong.

Caihong's 14-inch color kinescopes are priced at US$30 each on the European market, while those made by Philips' joint ventures have a quoted price of US$26 each at Chinese customs, the official said.

On top of that, Caihong actually exported less to the European market than the Philips claimed it did.

Philips itself, which set up two new production lines in 1997, during the investigated period, helped create a price slump on the European market, the People's Daily quoted a representative from Caihong as saying.

(China Daily 11/21/2000)