China is to impose anti-dumping duties on EU pork for five years, but at lower rates than temporary levies in place since September, Beijing announced yesterday.
The two sides have been locked in a trade spat fueled by what many European countries view as an unbalanced economic relationship with China.
The levies come after a probe launched by China last year concluded that European pork imports “were being dumped, and the domestic industry suffered substantial damages” as a result, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
The duties would range from 4.9 percent to 19.8 percent — down from temporary levies of 15.6 percent to 62.4 percent — and would be applied from today, it said.
“At present, the domestic industry is facing difficulties, and there are strong calls for protection,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said, adding that the investigation’s conclusions were “objective, fair and impartial.”
The two are key trading partners, with the EU running a trade deficit of more than US$350 billion with China last year.
French President Emmanuel Macron this month said that Europe would consider adopting strong measures against China — including tariffs — if the trade imbalance was not addressed.
The trade spat erupted in summer last year when the EU moved toward imposing hefty tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, saying that Beijing’s subsidies were unfairly undercutting European competitors.
Beijing denied that claim and announced what were widely seen as retaliatory probes into imported European pork, brandy and dairy products.
China — the world’s leading consumer of pork — imported 4.3 billion yuan (US$610.2 million) of pork products from major producer Spain alone last year, official Chinese customs data showed.
Meanwhile, France exported 115,000 tonnes of pork to China last year, industry association Inaporc said.
Under the new measures, Groupe Bigard, a major French pork producer, would be charged 9.8 percent, while Danish Crown A/S would be hit with an 18.6 percent levy.
European producers criticized the imposition of temporary duties on pork in September, denying the dumping allegations.
They said that Chinese consumers pay more than Europeans for products that the latter often ignore, such as pigs’ trotters or ears.
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