The European Union defines dumping as exporting a product to the EU at prices lower than the normal value of the product – the domestic prices of the product or cost of production – in its own domestic market. Anti-dumping measures are duties paid by the importer in the EU, and collected by the national customs authorities of the EU countries involved.

The EU imposed an anti-dumping duty on furfural imports from China in January 1995. After reviews, the duty has been extended twice, in 1999 and 2005.

In January 2010, producers Lenzing AG of Austria and Tanin Sevnica kemicna industrija of Slovenia requested a review. The two account for more than 50 percent of EU production of furfural.

According to the EU Councils regulation adopted May 4, the latest review request said the Chinese production capacity reached 320,000 tons in 2009 with a spare capacity of at least 20,000 ton, about half of total consumption in the EU. They claimed more than 200 furfural plants operated in the Peoples Republic of China, and that more and more engaged in export activities. The EU noted that little public information is available about Chinas furfural industry.

Given the existing spare capacity for furfuraldehyde in the PRC, combined with the fact that other export markets (such as Japan, Thailand and the USA) cannot absorb that spare capacity, if the measures were allowed to lapse, the Chinese exporters would in all likelihood try to regain their lost market share by continuing their dumping behavior in the [European] Union market, the councils regulation noted.

Furfural is obtained by processing agricultural waste. According to the EU Commission, the liquid has two main applications – as a selective solvent in petroleum refining for production of lubricating base oils, and as raw material for processing into furfuryl alcohol, used to make synthetic resin for foundry molds.