Facts distorted in shoe probe

China said it opposed anti-dumping investigations by the European Union (EU) into increased Chinese shoe imports, accusing its trading partner of distorting trade figures and misleading the public.

"China urges the EU to start with the facts, make decisions cautiously and avoid trade frictions," Chong Quan, a spokesman of Ministry of Commerce, said in a statement on the ministry''s Web site Saturday. China is against the EU starting anti-dumping investigations without "factual grounds or legal basis."

China had started negotiations with European counterparts to address alleged "serious errors" in collecting and calculating trade statistics, Chong said. Imports of some types of shoes from China surged 581 percent in the first four months of this year, according to EU statistics, 25 times the 22.8 percent increase recorded by China''s customs, the Ministry of Commerce statement said.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on June 15 said he supported a probe into Chinese exports of safety shoes after a European shoemakers'' group complained some footwear was being sold for less than the cost of production.

The number of jobs in the EU footwear industry dropped to 290,129 last year from 405,270 in 1998, according to the Confederation of the European Footwear Industry, which said that the job markets in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland and France were among the hardest hit.

The number of people working in the industry in Europe was expected to fall by about half in the next two years, the group said.

Mandelson on June 10 agreed with Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai to limits on growth of 10 categories of textiles under a special clothing-only World Trade Organization rule.

The EU may also apply similar limits to certain categories of shoes, notably those made from leather, which were subject to quotas until the beginning of this year.

Shoes were not subjected to the textile trade quotas that were lifted Jan. 1, so "it''s impossible for EU imports to increase more than 500 percent," Cao Heping, vice dean of the Beijing University School of Economics, said.

The EU figures might have included imports of the 10 new states of the 25-member region which joined May 1, 2004, resulting in the steep increase according to European figures, Cao said.

"We are in direct contact with the Chinese authorities," European Commission spokeswoman Katharina von Schnurbein said Saturday. "We''re exchanging information and we''re open for discussion to clarify the figures."

The European Commission, the EU''s regulatory arm, is being pressed by nations such as France to protect local manufacturers as unemployment in the 12-nation euro zone hovers at about 8.9 percent, near a five-year high. European economic growth has trailed the United States in 12 of the past 13 years.

Mandelson on June 16 warned there were signs of a "rising tide of protectionism" in the EU as the region struggled to compete with Asian economies.

Still, China and the EU might be able to resolve the shoe dispute because China, which made three out of every four pairs of shoes in the world, wanted its manufacturers to make higher-value products, Cao said.

"Chinese companies'' share in the global market is so high because of their low prices," Cao said. "If we reduce some of our market share and yet control the supply channels, it will benefit China."

Source: Shenzhen Daily