The European Union threatened to renew a tariff on chamois leather from China for another five years to curb import competition for U.K. producers.

The EU said it would review whether to let lapse the 58.9 percent duty on the soft leather, which is used to dry cars and windows.

The bloc imposed the levy in 2006 to punish Chinese exporters of chamois leather for selling it in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping. The goal was to protect EU producers such as U.K.-based Hutchings & Harding Ltd. from less expensive imports.
The review will determine whether the expiry of the levy “would be likely, or unlikely, to lead to a continuation of dumping and injury,” the European Commission, the 27-nation EU’s trade authority in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The duty was due to expire this week and will now stay in place during the probe, which can last as long as 15 months.

The inquiry results from a June 14 request by the U.K. Leather Federation, which represents more than half of EU production of chamois leather, according to the commission. When imposing the anti-dumping duty five years ago, the EU said Chinese exporters tripled their share of the European market to 30 percent in the 12 months to end-March 2005 compared with 2001.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France, at jstearns2@bloomberg.net