Retailers step up tariff campaign
Retailers are urging consumers to join the fight against tariffs on Chinese imports and to lobby Peter Mandelson, the European trade commissioner, in support of free trade.
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The British Retail Consortium will be handing out leaflets in shopping centres from next week warning shoppers they could face price increases on a range of products if the southern European lobby, looking to protect its manufacturing base, wins its fight for tariffs on certain Chinese imports.
Headlined "How Much!?", the leaflet warns customers they can "say goodbye" to their ￡5 jeans and the "cheap assembled cupboard in your bedroom" should the anti-dumping tariffs be imposed.
The rift between Brussels and Beijing over tariffs is part of a saga that began early last year when global textile barriers were lifted.
The first crisis point came last August when European retailers, having hit agreed quota limits on bras and pullovers, found themselves facing a stockpile of tens of millions of items in quota limbo in European ports.
Mr Mandelson, having resolved that dispute, now faces another battle between vested interests in the European Union over leather shoes made in China and Vietnam. Yesterday he met Adolfo Urso, the Italian trade minister, to discuss Italian concerns about cheap imports.
Other products could come under dispute. Germany and Italy are calling for an anti-dumping case on the basis that China has been shipping furniture to the EU at unfairly low prices and the BRC thinks ceramics and glassware could also become areas of dispute.
"It is clear that we face a series of battles on a growing range of products for years to come," said Kevin Hawkins, director-general of the consortium, which represents retailers such as Tesco and Marks and Spencer.
"Unless Europe's consumers wake up to this trend, they will pick up the bill.
"The British consumer has been protected against price hikes and shortages because the retailers have absorbed cost increases and diversified production away from China," said Mr Hawkins.
"But if the tariffs go into other areas, we won't be able to continue it."
British retailers are having a tough time as they struggle in the face of price deflation on the one hand - prices fell about 1.5 per cent on average last year - and increasing costs related to fuel and rent on the other.
Martin Waller, managing director of GH Warner Footwear, which supplies the big supermarkets, Clarks Shoes, BHS and Next, said retailers would pass the cost on.
"If duties of 18-20 per cent are imposed, it will be impossible for us . . . because the average net margin for a footwear supplier would be about 4 per cent," he said.
"There is no way we could swallow it and the retailers are in turmoil as it is. So it will be passed on to consumers and they will be the real losers in all this."
Mr Waller did not believe that anti-dumping duties were necessary, nor did he think Chinese manufacturers were selling below cost price.
"I don't believe there is any dumping going on. Chinese factories are privately owned rather than government-owned and are trying to turn a profit. They are not selling at below cost price," he said.
Retailers are hoping, however, that Mr Mandelson will come out in favour of free trade. The UK retail lobby has already won one victory this year over plastic bags, after Mr Mandelson decided to refrain - for the time being at least - from imposing curbs on imports from China, Malaysia and Thailand.
Tesco and other retailers wrote to Mr Mandelson to warn against the imposition of sanctions on bag exports from Asia. Lucy Neville-Rolfe, company secretary and head of corporate affairs at Tesco, said Mr Mandelson had been placed in a difficult position.
"We sympathise with him because it is hard to balance the interests of 450m consumers with those of producers given the way the system is set up in Brussels."
However, Ms Neville-Rolfe rejected Mr Mandelson's observation that retailers had not passed on to customers the gains from cheaper imports.
"The overall picture on pricing is that they have come down a lot in recent years and a major factor has been the ability to source more cheaply from Asia," she added. Additional reporting byRaphael Minder
英零售商为“中国制造”辩护
英国零售商正敦促消费者加入反对征收中国进口产品关税的斗争，并游说欧盟贸易专员彼得?曼德尔森(Peter Mandelson)支持自由贸易。
从下周开始，英国零售商协会(British Retail Consortium)将在各购物中心分发传单，传单将警告购物者，如果南欧各国要求针对某些中国进口产品施加关税的游说获胜，购物者可能面临一系列商品涨价。这些南欧国家试图通过游说保护自己的制造业基地。
标题为“多少钱！？”的传单警告顾客，一旦施加反倾销关税，他们就要对5英镑一条的牛仔裤和“卧室内的廉价组合柜”“说再见”了。
去年年初，全球纺织品壁垒被取消，欧盟与北京在关税问题上开始出现分歧，目前双方出现的争端是这一过程的一部分。
第一次危机出现在去年8月，当时欧洲零售商的文胸和毛衫进口已达到协议配额，结果配额限制让数千万件服装堆积在欧洲各港口无法出关。
曼德尔森先生虽然已解决了上次的争端，但目前面临着欧盟既得利益集团之间在中国和越南皮鞋问题上的另一场争端。昨天他会见了意大利贸易部长阿道尔夫?乌尔索(Adolfo Urso)，讨论意大利关切的廉价进口鞋问题。
其它产品可能面临争议。德国和意大利呼吁发起反倾销调查，根据是中国一直在以不公平的低价向欧洲出口家具，英国零售商协会认为，陶瓷制品和玻璃器皿也可能成为争议的领域。
“很明显，我们未来几年会在不断增多的产品种类上面临一系列斗争，”该协会会长凯文?霍金斯(Kevin Hawkins)表示。该协会代表特易购(Tesco)和玛莎百货(Marks and Spencer)等零售商的利益。
“除非欧洲的消费者意识到这一趋势并有所反应，否则他们就要为此买单。”
“英国消费者受到了保护，价格上涨和短缺没有影响到他们，因为零售商消化了成本的上涨，而且生产多元化，并非只来自中国，”霍金斯先生表示。
“但如果关税进入其它领域，我们将无法继续负担。”
英国零售商现在日子不好过，它们一方面要竭力应付价格通缩(去年价格平均下降了约1.5%)，另一方面还要对付燃料和租金成本的上涨。
GH Warner Footwear董事总经理马丁?沃勒(Martin Waller)表示，零售商会转嫁成本。GH Warner Footwear是大型超市其乐鞋业(Clarks Shoes)、BHS和Next的供应商。
“假如征收18%至20%的关税，我们就无法承受了……因为鞋类供应商的平均净利润率在4%左右，”他表示。
“我们可能根本没有办法承担，零售商目前都是一片混乱。所以成本会转嫁给消费者，他们会成为这一切的真正输家。”
沃勒先生认为反倾销税是不必要的，他还认为，中国制造商没有以低于成本的价格销售。
“我认为不存在任何倾销。中国工厂是私营的而非政府所有，它们都在努力获取利润。它们没有进行低于成本价的销售。”他说。
但零售商们希望，曼德尔森先生会站出来支持自由贸易。今年，英国的零售业游说团体已在塑料袋问题上赢得了一次胜利，因为曼德尔森先生决定(至少暂时)不对来自中国、马来西亚和泰国的进口产品加以限制。
特易购和其它零售商写信给曼德尔森先生，警告不要针对亚洲塑料袋出口实行制裁。特易购公司秘书及公司事务负责人露西?奈维尔-洛尔夫(Lucy Neville-Rolfe)称，曼德尔森先生已处于困难境地。
“我们对他表示同情，鉴于欧盟制定制度的方式，很难平衡4.5亿消费者与制造商之间的利益。”
但奈维尔-洛尔夫女士反对曼德尔森先生的意见。曼德尔森认为，零售商没有将从更廉价的进口中得来的收益传递给消费者。
“定价的大体情况是，近年来价格已大幅降低，而一个主要原因就是有能力从亚洲进行更廉价的采购。”她补充说。
