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The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has recommended putting a new trade remedy measure in place to protect the UK鈥檚 optical fibre cable industry from harm caused by low-priced imports from China.

Optical fibre cable is used in the delivery of broadband services to homes and businesses. The TRA has been investigating whether imports of these products are being dumped in the UK at prices below what they would sell for in their home country.

Around 5.7 million fibre kilometres of optical fibre cable was sold in the UK in 2021, including UK producer sales and imported goods and the UK market is expected to grow over the next five years. This rise is expected to be driven by network upgrades as demand for broadband increases as well as the Government鈥檚 investment in broadband infrastructure, such as 鈥� a 拢5 billion programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access faster broadband. The TRA has estimated that UK-produced optical fibre accounts for around half of all UK consumption, with the rest of the market supplied by imports from China, India, the US, Poland and Germany.

During its investigation, the TRA determined that there is already damage to the UK industry, having found clear evidence of price undercutting, indicating that UK businesses are struggling to compete with the dumped imports. The TRA therefore recommended that the Secretary of State for International Trade put in place a on these imports while it completes its investigation.

TRA Chief Executive Oliver Griffiths said:

鈥淥ptical fibre cable provides higher speeds and bandwidth and as such plays an important role in meeting the UK鈥檚 internet needs. The interim measures the TRA has recommended will ensure UK producers are able to compete with imports and are able to continue supplying this vital growth industry.鈥�

The TRA鈥檚 initial conclusions are published on its public file in a . Interested parties to the case can register to comment on the findings and submit any additional evidence. The TRA will then assess any additional information and submit its final recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business & Trade for a decision.

The investigation was carried out in response to an application from a UK manufacturer and information was gathered from interested parties to establish whether imports had been dumped in the UK at prices below their normal value and whether this was harming the UK industry. The TRA also carried out an Economic Interest Test (EIT) to assess if it would be in the UK鈥檚 economic interest听to put in place a trade remedy measure in the form of a tariff at the border, to mitigate any injury from the imports.

Under the new provisional measure, importers will need to provide a guarantee (in the form of cash, bond or bank guarantee) to HM Revenue and Customs that shows they can pay the duty that they may ultimately be required to pay on imports of these goods. This will help make sure UK businesses that make similar goods don鈥檛 suffer further damage from these imports while the TRA completes its investigation.

The different rates that importers will have to pay are listed below, comparing the provisional rates with the rates recommended in the SEF.

• Non-sampled exporters are those that cooperated with the TRA鈥檚 investigation but were not part of the sample.

** The residual rate is the rate that all other non-cooperative overseas exporters will have to pay.

Separate investigation into subsidies on optical fibre cable imports

The TRA has also carried out a separate investigation to determine whether the Chinese imports entering the UK market are also benefiting from subsidies that lower their production costs.听 The interim findings from this investigation are that the goods are being subsidised and that they have caused injury to the UK鈥檚 industry.

As set out in a , the TRA intends to recommend that the Secretary of State impose an ad-valorem duty for a period of five years on the goods concerned subject to the final affirmative determination. The recommended countervailing amount ranges from 10.62% to 11.79%.

Notes to Editors

• The Trade Remedies Authority is the UK body that investigates whether new trade remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports.
• The TRA is an arm鈥檚 length body of the Department for Business & Trade.
• UK industries concerned about imports can submit applications to the TRA for a new trade remedy measure.

• This is the third new investigation that the TRA has opened and follows an that opened in June 2021 and a which began in May 2022.

• Anti-dumping remedies address imported goods which are being dumped in the UK at prices below what they would be sold for in their home country.
• Countervailing remedies deal with imports which benefit from subsidies in their home country which lower their production costs. Not all government subsidies are countervailable (can be countered using trade remedies) 鈥� the TRA鈥檚 explains this in detail.