July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union threatened to impose tariffs on aluminum foil from China, Brazil and Armenia to shield producers in the EU including Norsk Hydro ASA from cheaper imports.

The EU began an inquiry into whether Chinese, Brazilian and Armenian exporters of the wrapping sell it in the 27-nation bloc below cost, a practice known as dumping. The probe covers aluminum foil in reels of a width up to 650 millimeters (25.6 inches) with a thickness between 0.008 millimeter and 0.018 millimeter.

The investigation will determine whether the product ``is being dumped and whether this dumping has caused injury,'' the European Commission, the EU's executive arm in Brussels, said in the Official Journal on July 12. The commission has nine months to decide whether to impose provisional antidumping duties for half a year and EU governments have 15 months to decide whether to apply ``definitive'' levies for five years.

The dumping inquiry stems from a May 28 complaint by the European Association of Metals on behalf of producers that account for more than 25 percent of EU output of the aluminum foil covered by the probe, said the commission.

``We certainly hope that duties will be imposed as soon as possible,'' Monique Jones, trade-policy director at the Brussels-based industry group, also known as Eurometaux, said by telephone. ``Competition is very, very tough.''

Aluminum Foil

Eurometaux represents companies including Hydro Aluminium Deutschland GmbH, a unit of Norway's Norsk Hydro that makes aluminum foil in Germany, and Alcoa Europe, a subsidiary of New York-based Alcoa Inc. that manufactures the wrapping in Spain.

Jones declined to name the companies behind the dumping complaint. Cologne, Germany-based Hydro Aluminium backs the complaint, company spokesman Michael-Peter Steffen said by phone. Alcoa Europe officials in Switzerland couldn't immediately comment on the case.

By Jonathan Stearns