The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a working paper titled “Industrial Policy and Trade Tensions in Strategic Sectors”, authored by Lorenzo Rotunno and Priyam Verma. The study estimates industrial subsidies across countries and sectors over 2015–2023, comparing the European Union, China and the United States.
In shipbuilding, considered a strategic sector in China, state aid reaches 3.3% in China, compared with 0.55% in the US and only 0.25% in the EU. This gap goes a long way toward explaining the remarkable speed at which Chinese shipyards deliver new vessels, while European and American producers operate with far thinner public-support margins.
The analysis also shows that, beyond subsidies, Chinese labour costs are roughly 65–70% lower than in the US and EU, and basic materials are about 20% cheaper. Together, these factors provide the “real picture” behind the miracle of cheap Chinese products.
The IMF paper thus offers a solid factual basis for the debate on the competitiveness of the European shipbuilding industry, including Romania’s, relative to Asian producers.