BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - European Union members

cleared the way on Wednesday for the bloc to impose definitive

anti-dumping duties on imports of titanium dioxide (TiO2) from

China, according to sources with knowledge of the EU

investigation.

Some 15 EU countries voted for and eight against duties,

with four abstentions, the sources said. The duties on the

product chiefly used as a white pigment in paints should be

imposed by Jan. 11 and apply for five years.

The European Commission's proposed duties of 0.25 euro per

kilogramme for Anhui Gold Star Group and 0.74 euro

for LB Group, with rates of 0.64 euro for companies

deemed to have cooperated with the investigation and 0.74 euro

for all other companies.

In July, the EU imposed provisional duties of 14.4% to

39.7%. These will be replaced by the definitive duties, which in

percentage terms are slightly lower.

The Commission, which coordinates EU trade policy, launched

its investigation a year ago after a complaint by a coalition of

EU producers, which did not identify themselves.

They argued unfairly cheap Chinese imports had risen sharply

to a 22% market share, pushing profitability of EU producers to

unsustainable levels. They also argued the EU industry could

fulfil 90% of EU demand, with imports from other countries, such

as Britain, Mexico and the United States.

Chinese TiO2 imports in 2023 were worth just over half a

billion euros, Eurostat data showed.

Producers in the European Union include Cinkarna, Kronos ( KRO ),

Tronox ( TROX ) and Venator.

European paints and printing ink association CEPE urged EU

members last week to reject the duties, saying TiO2 accounted

for about 20% of the final cost of finished products and

threatened the viability of the 33 billion euro per year EU

paints sector.

An exemption has been granted for TiO2 imports used to

produce white graphic inks for printing.