GCC Anti-Dumping on Chinese Tiles: How to Cut Your Duty from 76% to 23.5%

1. The Gulf's Renewed Anti-Dumping Regime

On 28 May 2026, the GCC Technical Secretariat of Anti-Dumping & International Trade Practices (GCC-TSAIP) officially extended anti-dumping duties on Chinese ceramic and porcelain tiles for another five years, keeping the measures in force until 2031. The decision applies across all six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain.

For importers in the Gulf, this is not a new shock. The original duties were first imposed in 2020 following an investigation that found Chinese tile exporters selling below normal value in GCC markets. The 2026 extension is a sunset review outcome — GCC-TSAIP concluded that removing the duties would likely cause material injury to the domestic tile industry to recur. In plain terms: the duties are here to stay, and they are not going to be negotiated away.

What is new is the urgency. The rate structure has become sharper over time. GCC customs authorities have tightened enforcement, and the gap between the lowest and highest rate has widened to a 3.2× spread. An importer who sources from the wrong factory pays more than three times the anti-dumping tax of an importer who sources from the right one — on the exact same product, shipping through the exact same port, clearing the exact same customs authority.

This article breaks down the full rate table, explains the compounding effect of China's cancelled export tax rebate, shows the real per-container savings, and gives you a verification checklist so you can confirm your supplier's actual GCC rate before you place an order. If you also export to Europe, see our companion guide on EU anti-dumping duties on Chinese tiles.

2. The Rate Table: 23.5% vs 76%

The GCC anti-dumping duty is not a single number. It is a factory-specific rate determined by GCC-TSAIP based on each exporter's level of cooperation with the investigation. Factories that opened their books, provided complete cost data, and participated in the review received individual or group rates. Factories that ignored the investigation received the punitive default rate.

Here is the full rate breakdown under HS code 6907 (glazed ceramic tiles) and 6908 (unglazed ceramic tiles):

The critical number in this table is the 76% default. This is the rate that GCC customs applies when the exporting factory cannot be identified on the cooperating list, or when the factory did not participate in the GCC-TSAIP investigation. Most Chinese tile factories — particularly smaller or newer ones — fall into this category. They never cooperated with the investigation, so their shipments are hit with the maximum penalty.

Here is what most importers don't realise: your supplier may not know their own rate, or may not tell you the truth about it. A factory sales rep will rarely volunteer that their products carry 76% duty at GCC customs. They quote you a competitive FOB price, and the duty surprise arrives only when your container reaches Jebel Ali, Dammam, or Hamad Port — by which point your goods are already on the water and you have no recourse.

The 23.5% rate, by contrast, is reserved for factories on the cooperating list. These are exporters who provided full cooperation to GCC-TSAIP during the investigation and review. Certain cooperating factories received the lowest sampled rate of 23.5%. Any cooperating factory that was not individually sampled also receives 23.5% — the residual cooperating rate. This is the rate you want.

3. The Double Hit: China Export Tax Rebate Cancelled

The GCC anti-dumping duty is only half the story. On 1 April 2026, China's Ministry of Finance cancelled the 9% export tax rebate on ceramic tiles. For years, Chinese tile exporters received a 9% rebate on VAT paid for goods destined for export. This rebate effectively subsidised FOB prices, keeping them artificially low for foreign buyers. The cancellation means that every Chinese tile factory has lost a 9% cost cushion overnight.

The impact is already flowing through the supply chain. Factories have raised FOB prices by 5–9% to absorb the lost rebate. Some have held prices flat but reduced quality grades or cut packaging standards. Either way, the buyer pays. The era of artificially cheap Chinese tile FOB prices is over.

When you combine the export tax rebate cancellation with the GCC anti-dumping duty, the numbers become stark:

• Non-cooperating factory (76% AD) + rebate loss: Your effective cost premium above ex-factory is 85%+. A container whose product cost is $15,000 ends up with a landed cost of $27,000–28,000+ once you factor in the 76% duty on top of the rebate-driven price increase. This is the scenario most Gulf importers are walking into without realising it.
• Cooperating factory (23.5% AD) + rebate loss: Your effective cost premium is approximately 32.5%. The same $15,000 container lands at roughly $19,900–20,500. Still a premium, but a manageable one that keeps you competitive in your local market.

The 52-percentage-point gap between these two scenarios is what makes factory selection the single most important decision in your GCC sourcing strategy. It dwarfs product price differences, freight rate fluctuations, and even currency movements. You can negotiate a $1/m² discount with a factory, but if that factory carries a 76% duty rate, you've lost $7,000+ on the container to save $1,000 on the product. For a detailed breakdown of how all cost layers stack up, see our tile import cost breakdown guide.

4. Real Savings: One Container, Two Rates

Let's make this concrete with a real-world example. Consider a standard 20GP container of 600×600mm polished porcelain tiles — roughly 1,000 m² — sourced from a Guangdong factory. The FOB product value (factory price + FOB charge to Foshan or Shenzhen port) is $15,000. Ocean freight to a GCC port and local customs clearance are identical in both scenarios — the only variable is which factory supplied the tiles, and therefore which anti-dumping rate applies.

$7,875 per container. That is nearly $8,000 in pure margin — money that goes directly to your bottom line, or that lets you undercut competitors who are unknowingly sourcing from 76% factories. On a project requiring 10 containers, the savings exceed $78,000. On an annual volume of 50 containers, you're looking at $393,750 in duty savings alone.

The most painful part of this comparison is that both containers carry the same product. Same tile size, same glaze, same packaging, same vessel, same destination port. The only difference is which factory's name appears on the GCC Certificate of Origin. That single line of text determines whether you pay $3,525 or $11,400 in duty. No other sourcing decision — not freight negotiation, not payment terms, not product price haggling — comes close to this level of financial impact.

5. How to Verify Your Supplier's GCC Rate

Not all suppliers tell the truth about their GCC rate. Some genuinely don't know — smaller factories that sell through trading companies may have no idea which rate applies to their goods. Others know but prefer not to mention it, hoping the buyer won't ask until after the order is placed. Either way, verifying the rate before you commit is essential.

Here is the verification checklist:

• Ask for the GCC Certificate of Origin (CO). The CO must list the factory name exactly as it appears on the GCC-TSAIP cooperating list. If the factory cannot produce a GCC CO, or if the factory name on the CO doesn't match the cooperating register, you are likely dealing with a 76% rate.
• Ask which cooperating list they're on. GCC-TSAIP maintains a published list of cooperating exporters. Ask your supplier directly: "Are you on the GCC-TSAIP cooperating list? What is your individual rate?" A cooperating factory will know the answer immediately. A non-cooperating factory will deflect or change the subject.
• Cross-check through trade data. If you have access to GCC import customs data or a trade intelligence platform, you can verify whether previous shipments from the same factory entered at the 23.5% rate or the 76% rate. This is the most definitive check, but it requires data access.

If this verification process sounds time-consuming, that's because it is. L&Q GLOBAL performs this verification for every factory we work with and for every shipment we consolidate. We maintain an up-to-date register of cooperating factories with confirmed 23.5% rates, and we never ship a GCC-bound container without verifying the factory's status first. Contact us if you need help verifying your current supplier's rate.

6. L&Q's GCC Sourcing Advantage

L&Q GLOBAL has been sourcing tiles for Gulf market importers for over a decade. We maintain direct relationships with cooperating factories on the GCC-TSAIP list and handle the full verification, compliance, and logistics chain so you don't have to. Here is what our GCC sourcing service includes:

Our approach is simple: we treat the GCC duty rate as the first filter in factory selection, not an afterthought. Before we even discuss product specs, pricing, or lead times with a factory, we verify their GCC-TSAIP status. If a factory is not on the cooperating list, we do not use them for GCC-bound orders — regardless of how attractive their FOB price might be. This discipline has saved our clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in duty costs over the years.

We also handle the documentation side. GCC customs requires specific paperwork to apply the cooperating rate: the Certificate of Origin must be correctly formatted, the factory name must match the register exactly, and the HS code classification must be accurate. Errors in any of these can trigger a default 76% assessment even when the factory is genuinely on the cooperating list. Our documentation team ensures every shipment carries the correct paperwork.

7. Frequently Asked Questions

Related reading: EU Anti-Dumping on Chinese Tiles: Sourcing Guide · The Real Cost of Importing Tiles from China (2026) · China Tile Buying Guide