China expressed regret on Friday over the European Union's (EU) anti-dumping investigations on Chinese imported aluminum alloy hub products, said Yao Jian, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce, in a statement posted on its website.

The investigation launched by the EU Thursday, involves more than 60 Chinese companies, and will bring US$390 million economic losses to the exporters, according to the statement.

The Association of European Wheel Manufacturers submitted an anti-dumping request to the EU at the end of June without disclosing the names of the European wheel-hub makers. It violated the transparency principles under the World Trade Organization, the statement said.

"The EU failed to resume its responsibility of conducting strict examination on the request, sending wrong signals to the industry, "said Yao Jian in the statement.

Once an anti-dumping judgement is made, the EU may levy tariffs of up to 33 percent on Chinese aluminum alloy hubs for a term of five years.

China's aluminum alloy hub products have been widely used by leading auto makers such as Mercedez-Benz, BMW AG, Audi AG and Volkswagen. Such anti-dumping will increase the cost to both the auto makers and the consumers, and bring negative impact to the recovery of the European' auto industry, according to Yao Jian.

China hopes the EU will keep its anti-protectionism promise and make efforts to safeguard an open and impartial market competition, creating a sound environment for the trade between China and the EU, said Yao.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2009)