The Panther pallet truck

The European Union (EU) has imposed a new anti-dumping duty on all pallet trucks imported from China to the region.

Erling Pedersen, president of Danish materials handling equipment manufacturer Logitrans A/S, says the duty will open new opportunities for the company to sell its pallet trucks.

"We want to stress that it is now not worthwhile to buy anything but our pallet truck - a pallet truck of good, strong Danish quality," Pedersen says. "Our Panther pallet truck manages 50,000 pump strokes, ensuring a considerably lower price during the operating life than a Chinese pallet truck."

On 22 April, the EU imposed a 70.8% duty on Chinese pallet trucks, making the price difference between Chinese imports and European trucks "very small", according to Logitrans. The duty is imposed on painted and stainless steel pallet trucks.

Sang Tian, from E-P Equipment, says the new duty will not affect the Chinese manufacturer's business at all. "We shifted our emphasis to other products a long time ago. Hand pallet trucks to Europe is not a big business for E-P."

European Handling Equipment (EHE), which supplies Chinese hand pallet trucks, says it anticipated the duty after the European Commission Trade Protectorate initiated an anti-dumping investigation for hand-operated pallet trucks (HOPT) from China on 14 February.

"Following the imposition of the additional [duty], EU prices of HOPT from China are likely to rise in parallel with the duty. EHE can advise that, although prices will rise, we are confident our new prices will be considerably lower than the forecasted prices of supplies from China," EHE said in a statement.