04/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - During the Agriculture-Fisheries Council on 28 October in Luxembourg, the European Commission rejected the request from the Hungarian and Polish delegations to implement an anti-dumping duty on Chinese apple-pulp. A note sent to the Council explained that the situation on the apple market in Hungary and Poland, as well as in several Central European member states has become critical. Delegations explained that even though last year's harvest was very low, apple prices began to fall in April and May 2008 and reached a level that was 40-60% lower than during the first part of the 2007-08 commercial year. They also explained that low industrial apple prices are being driven by high European supply and the rapid increase in Chinese apple-pulp. (L.C./trans/rh)