Chinese rail company CRRC withdraws bid from Bulgarian public tender amid EU inquiry

A Chinese train maker has withdrawn from a public tender in Bulgaria after the European Union launched an investigation into a bid it said was undercutting local firms.

The inquiry, announced last month, was the first of its kind and marked the maiden use of a foreign subsidies regulation designed to stop state handouts from distorting the EU’s single market.

CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive Co, a division of state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC Corporation, had hoped to provide 20 electric push-pull trains and their maintenance.

Its bid was reported to be around half that of a Spanish competitor, with the European Commission announcing that the Chinese company had withdrawn its bid on Tuesday evening. Brussels had alleged that CRRC had received almost US$2 billion in state subsidies.