UK proposes anti-dumping duties of up to 95% on engine oils and hydraulic fluids

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The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) said that the new anti-dumping measures were aimed at protecting UK producers.

Its announcement comes after UK manufacturer Aztec Oils made a June 2024 application for an investigation into the import of certain oils and hydraulic fluids from the two countries.

The investigation covers heavy duty commercial vehicle and hydraulic oils, as well as passenger car motor oils.

According to the TRA’s estimates, UK-produced engine oils and hydraulic fluids generated sales exceeding £285 million during the investigation period, which ran from April 2023 to March 2024.

But it also found that the UK engine oil industry has been suffering “material injury” due to dumped goods from Lithuania and the UAE.

It also determined that there would be further injury if a measure was not recommended.

In April, provisional measures were put in place based on the TRA’s recommendation to protect the UK industry while completing the full investigation.

The TRA has now published its initial findings in a Statement of Essential Facts (SEF), proposing anti-dumping duties of up to 84.72% for individual participating companies and countrywide rates of 95.36% for Lithuania and 34.55% for the UAE, for a period of five years.

It said interested parties now have until 7 October 2025 to comment on the SEF.

Excavator anti-dumping measures

The TRA’s announcement on oils and hydraulic fluids follows the introduction earlier this year of anti-dumping duties on certain Chinese excavators.

The TRA launched its investigation into dumping of Chinese excavators into the UK market in November 2023 in response to an application from UK-based JCB and found that Chinese exporters undercut UK prices by an average rate of 23.4% thanks to reduced production costs.

In May 2025, the UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted the TRA’s recommendation to impose new anti-dumping and countervailing measures on imports of excavators from China to the UK.

The anti-dumping duties range from 18.81% for a sampled exporter to 40.08% for the residual rate. The measures have been imposed on imports of excavators from China weighing 11 tonnes or more, but less than 80 tonnes.

In July, both Caterpillar and LiuGong made submissions asking the TRA to reconsider how it imposes those anti-dumping duties. The duties will remain in force during the reconsideration period.