Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2337 of 24 November 2025 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1452 imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain continuous filament glass fibre products originating in the People’s Republic of China

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Union (1) (‘the basic Regulation’), and in particular Article 11(3) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) By Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 248/2011 (2), the Council imposed a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of certain continuous filament glass fibre products (‘GFR’) originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘the PRC’ or ‘China’, or ‘the country concerned’). The duty, based on the injury elimination level, ranged from 7,3 % to 13,8 %.

(2) By Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 1379/2014 (3), following an anti-subsidy investigation and a partial interim review of the anti-dumping measures, the Commission amended the original anti-dumping duty to values ranging from 0 % to 19,9 % and imposed an additional countervailing duty ranging from 4,9 % to 10,3 %. The resulting combined countervailing and anti-dumping measures ranged from 4,9 % to 30,2 %.

(3) By Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/724 (4), following an expiry review of the anti-dumping measures, the Commission maintained these measures as established in Implementing Regulation (EU) 1379/2014.

(4) By Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/328 (5), following an expiry review of the countervailing measures, the Commission decided to maintain these measures as established in Implementing Regulation (EU) 1379/2014.

(5) By Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1452 (6), following an expiry review of the anti-dumping measures, the Commission decided to maintain these measures as established in Implementing Regulation (EU) 1379/2014.

(6) The resulting combined countervailing and anti-dumping measures therefore range from 4,9 % to 30,2 %.

(7) Measures are also in force on imports of GFR originating in Egypt, imposed by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/870 (7) following an anti-subsidy investigation. The duty on imports of certain continuous filament glass fibre products originating in Egypt, based on the level of subsidisation is 13,1 %.

(8) On 30 August 2024, the Commission initiated a partial interim review, limited to injury, of the anti-subsidy measures applicable to imports of GFR originating in the People's Republic of China. It published a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (8).

(9) On 17 February 2025, the Commission initiated an anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of GFR originating in Bahrain, Egypt and Thailand. It published a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (9).

(10) On 30 August 2024, the European Commission (‘the Commission’) initiated an interim review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of GFR originating in the People’s Republic of China on the basis of Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation. The Commission published a Notice of Initiation in the Official Journal of the European Union (10) (‘the Notice of Initiation’).

(11) The Commission initiated this review following a request lodged on 3 June 2024 by Glass Fibre Europe (‘the applicant’). The review request was made on behalf of the Union industry of GFR within the meaning of Article 5(4) of the basic Regulation. The review request contained evidence of changes of lasting nature in the structure of Chinese and Union GFR industries, as well as dumping and resulting material injury, that was sufficient to justify the initiation of the investigation.

(12) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission invited interested parties to contact it in order to participate in the investigation. In addition, the Commission specifically informed the applicant, other known Union producers, the known exporting producers in the PRC as well as the authorities of the PRC, known importers, users as well as associations known to be concerned about the initiation of the investigation and invited them to participate.

(13) Interested parties had an opportunity to comment on the initiation of the review investigation and to request a hearing with the Commission and/or the Hearing Officer in trade proceedings.

(14) The Commission informed all interested parties of the essential facts and considerations on the basis of which it intended to impose a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of GFR originating in the PRC. All parties were granted a period within which they could make comments on the disclosure. Comments submitted by Glass Fibre Europe, PROXIM, Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials Holding Co., Ltd. and the Jushi Group Co., Ltd. after the disclosure were addressed in the relevant section below.

(15) Parties who so requested were also granted an opportunity to be heard. Hearings took place with Glass Fibre Europe, Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials Holding Co., Ltd. and the Jushi Group Co., Ltd.

(16) Following the disclosure referred to in recital (14), the Commission subsequently made an additional final disclosure to all interested parties. This additional disclosure contained updated findings and considerations. Parties were given the opportunity to comment on this additional disclosure, and the comments received were addressed in the relevant section below.

(17) No comments on initiation were received.

(18) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it might sample interested parties in accordance with Article 17 of the basic Regulation.

(19) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission stated that it had provisionally selected a sample of Union producers. The Commission selected the sample on the basis of the largest volume of production and sales during the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 reported by the Union producers in the context of the pre-initiation standing assessment analysis. The sample consisted of three Union producers accounting for more than 60 % of the estimated total volume of production and more than 69 % of the estimated total volume of sales of the like product in the Union. The Commission invited interested parties to comment on the provisional sample. No comments were received. The sample was considered representative of the Union industry.

(20) To decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked unrelated importers to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation.

(21) No unrelated importer replied to the sampling form. Consequently, the Commission decided that sampling was not necessary.

(22) To decide whether sampling was necessary and, if so, to select a sample, the Commission asked all exporting producers in the PRC to provide the information specified in the Notice of Initiation. In addition, the Commission asked the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union to identify and/or contact other exporting producers, if any, that could be interested in participating in the investigation.

(23) Four exporting producers/groups in the PRC provided the requested information and agreed to be included in the sample. In accordance with Article 17(1) of the basic Regulation, the Commission selected a sample composed of two exporting producers/groups on the basis of the largest representative volume of exports to the Union which could reasonably be investigated within the time available. In accordance with Article 17(2) of the basic Regulation, all known exporting producers concerned, and the authorities of the PRC were consulted on the selection of the sample. The initial sample consisted of the Jushi Group and Jiangsu Changhai Composite Materials Holding Co., Ltd (‘Jiangsu Changhai’). The Taishan Fiberglass Group, a group of exporting producers initially not included in the sample, submitted comments on its relationship to one of the initially sampled companies, the Jushi Group, through the China National Building Materials Group (also referred to as ‘CNBM’ or ‘CNBM Group’).

(24) On 20 September 2024, the Commission notified all interested parties that provisional sample had changed, and that the Taishan Fiberglass Group and the Jushi Group would be treated as related companies within the meaning of Article 127 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 (11), and be considered as part of the same group, the CNBM Group. The final sample thus consisted of the CNBM Group and Jiangsu Changhai, representing 98 % of the volume of exports from the PRC to the Union. No comments were received on the definitive sample.

(25) No companies came forward requesting individual examination.

(26) The Commission sent a questionnaire concerning the existence of significant distortions in the PRC within the meaning of Article 2(6a)(b) of the basic Regulation to the Government of the People’s Republic of China (‘GOC’).

(27) The Commission published online (12) the questionnaires for the exporting producers, users, unrelated importers and Union producers.

(28) Questionnaire replies were received from all three Union producers selected in the sample of Union producers, two users and the sampled Chinese exporting producers and their related traders in the Union.

(30) The investigation of dumping and injury covered the period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 (‘the review investigation period’). The examination of trends relevant for the assessment of injury covered the period from 1 January 2021 to the end of the review investigation period (‘the period considered’).

(31) The product subject to this review is chopped glass fibre strands, of a length of not more than 50 mm; glass fibre rovings, excluding glass fibre rovings which are impregnated and coated and have a loss on ignition of more than 3 % (as determined by the ISO Standard 1887); and mats made of glass fibre filaments excluding mats of glass wool (‘the product under review’), currently falling under CN codes 7019 11 00 , ex 7019 12 00 , 7019 14 00 and 7019 15 00 (TARIC codes 7019 12 00 22, 7019 12 00 25, 7019 12 00 26, 7019 12 00 39). The CN and TARIC codes are given for information only without prejudice to a subsequent change in the tariff classification.

(32) The product under review is the raw material most often used to reinforce thermoplastic and thermoset resins in the composites industry. The resulting composite materials (filament glass fibre reinforced plastics) are used in a large number of industries: the automotive industry, electric/electronics, windmill blades, building/construction, tanks/pipes, consumer goods, aerospace/military, etc.

(33) The product concerned is the product under investigation originating in the People’s Republic of China (‘the product concerned’).

(35) The Commission decided at this stage that those products are therefore like products within the meaning of Article 1(4) of the basic Regulation.

(36) Following disclosure, Glass Fibre Europe submitted comments concerning the product scope of the measures.

(37) These comments were received after the deadline set for submitting comments on the final disclosure. In addition, the interim review was limited to examination of dumping and injury.

(38) As the submissions were received outside the prescribed time limit, the Commission did not take them into account and rejected the request.

(39) In accordance with Article 11(3) of the basic Regulation, the Commission analysed whether the change in circumstances with regard to dumping and injury could reasonably be said to be of a lasting nature.

(40) In the request, the applicants submitted that that the lasting changes concerning dumping related to a significant change in the structure of the Chinese GFR industry, increase of production volume, production capacity and spare production capacity of the product under review in the PRC, and the resulting massive overcapacity and downward pressure on export prices.

(41) The Commission noted that in every expiry review since Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/724, the data on excess GFR capacity in China confirmed a significant increase in overcapacity, from 150 000 tonnes in 2015 (13), up to 1,1 million tonnes in 2021 (14).

(42) In light of the data supporting the argument of lasting increase in the production capacity of the GFR industry in the PRC, the evolution of the capacity of the cooperating exporting producers was investigated and verified. All sampled cooperating exporting producers reported increases in production capacity, going from 1,5 million tonnes in 2016 up to 4,1 million tonnes during the RIP. Between 2020 and 2021, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, Chinese GFR producers were able to increase their production output by more than 1 million tonnes in one year alone.

(43) It is recalled that GOC did not cooperate in this review. Therefore, the Commission relied on the information contained in the review request to establish Chinese domestic demand for GFR. On this basis, Chinese domestic demand for GFR amounted to approximately 3,1 million tonnes between 2023 and 2024, translating in overcapacities of at least 1 million tonnes if compared with the verified data submitted by the sampled Chinese exporting producers alone. When taking into account other Chinese exporting producers, such as Chongqing Polycomp International Corp. (15), Shandong Fiberglass Group Corp. Ltd (16) and Chongqing Sanlei Fiberglass Co. Ltd. (17), and their announced capacity increases, Chinese overcapacities could be above 2 million tonnes.

(44) In addition, all sampled exporting producers reported recent investments in new furnaces and production lines, with the CNBM Group opening two new manufacturing plants in Taiyuan (18) and Huai’an (19), increasing manufacturing capacity by over 800 000 tonnes per year.

(45) In the Notice of Initiation, the Commission indicated that the lasting changes concerning injury related to significant changes in the structure of the Union industry due to the increasing aggressive pressure of Chinese imports in terms of quantities and prices caused by the Chinese GFR overcapacities.

(46) The investigation confirmed that the persistent overcapacity in China, coupled with aggressive pricing, has significantly hindered the growth of the GFR Union industry. Union producers have only managed limited capacity increases by optimising existing facilities. Following the implementation of additional trade measures in 2014, Chinese exports continued to exert pressure on the Union market, causing several producers to exit the market. In 2009, during the investigation period of the original investigation, there were eleven producers of GFR in the Union. By 2021, the beginning of the period considered, this number had declined to ten. Notably, P-D Glasseiden ceased production in Germany in 2019. More recently, Krosglass discontinued the production of GFR in July 2023 to focus on downstream activities. In addition, NEG NL declared bankruptcy (20) mainly due to escalating energy costs and a decline in demand from the automotive sector, which was the main end-market for its optical-fibre glass products. This additional closure thus brought the number of producers down to only eight. In parallel, Electric Glass Fiber UK has ceased production of GFR (21) in 2025. Whereas the United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union since 1 January 2021, this development does not change the number of Union producers, though it reduces available regional supply and forms part of the lasting changes affecting the Union market.

(47) Looking at the evolution of production capacity, whereas capacity in the Union market was assessed only for the sampled producers in the original investigation and cannot be used as a point of reference in this regard, Union production capacity was estimated at 725 960 tonnes in 2015 in the 2017 expiry review of the anti-dumping measures (22). By contrast, in the current investigation, capacity declined from 711 692 tonnes in 2021 to 651 196 tonnes in the RIP (– 9 %), i.e. about 10 % below the 2015 level found during the original investigation. Even when not taking into account the UK producer in the post-Brexit indicators, the downward trend relating to production capacity was confirmed.

(48) When comparing the data available from the original investigation, Union industry’s sales fell from 737 818 tonnes in 2006 to 520 064 tonnes in the investigation period, with market share decreasing from 75,1 % to 69,5 % over the same period. By contrast, in the current investigation the Union industry’s sales declined down to 337 898 tonnes in the RIP with market share dropping to 40 % in the RIP. This shows that Union sales have now reached levels well below that of the mid-2000s and, more importantly, that market share has contracted by roughly 30 percentage points, signalling a lasting erosion of the Union industry’s position.

(49) The situation on the Union market has also been affected by the establishment of Chinese owned companies producing GFR in third countries such as Egypt and Bahrain (23). After the establishment of the companies in Egypt, the Commission imposed countervailing duties on imports of GFR from Egypt (24) aiming at restoring a level playing field in view of the subsidised imports injuring the Union industry. Furthermore, there have been additional capacity increases in production of GFR in Egypt (25) and Bahrain (26). Despite the measures taken against GFR imports from the PRC, the Union industry remained under persistent pressure from recurring inflows of unfairly traded GFR coming from a growing number of third countries, including Chinese-controlled facilities in Bahrain and Egypt, which increased their market share on the Union market significantly. On 17 February 2025, the Commission initiated an anti-dumping proceeding regarding imports of GFR originating in Bahrain, Egypt, and Thailand (27).