By Lewis Crofts - 28th May 2004
Brussels will not yet be taking China to the trade courts over a coke dispute, despite the expiry of yet another deadline.
Europe had told China it had until Friday, May 28 to resolve the spat over exports of the raw material vital for steelmakers.
But as the date passes Brussels claims the sides are still talking while Chinese officials speak of a “satisfying solution”.
Brussels has been putting pressure on Beijing to drop export licences and quotas after the price of coke rose five-fold since the beginning of the year, crippling EU steel producers.
Europe claims Beijing has raised the price of export licences extortionately, effectively strangling exports.
The May 28 deadline was the second set by Brussels after continual efforts to find a “constructive solution”.
An EU spokesman said that talks with Beijing were “going pretty well” and that “substance was more important than the deadline”.
A Chinese trade official added that “the issue was going in the right direction” and that both sides “seem to have approached a very satisfying solution”.
Brussels seems unwilling to initiate its first dispute against the Far East’s trade behemoth despite the tough rhetoric in early weeks.
An EU spokesman said last week that if the situation is not defused, “we both know there is no other alternative than to take this to the World Trade Organisation”.
On Friday, however, another spokesman said that a taking the case to the WTO was purely “hypothetical”.
China has already offered to release more coke onto the world market, but Europe wants to see the restrictions scrapped.
Chinese exports account for about 30 per cent of European consumption.
Beijing claims that it needs more and more coke for its booming domestic industries.
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