China to impose anti-dumping duties on EU for five years

AFP | Beijing

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China will impose anti-dumping duties on European Union pork imports for five years, but at lower rates than temporary levies in place since September, Beijing announced yesterday.

The two economic powerhouses have been locked in a trade spat fuelled 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 commerce ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

The duties will range from 4.9% to 19.8% -- down from temporary levies of 15.6% to 62.4% -- and will be applied from December 17, it said.

“At present, the domestic industry is facing difficulties, and there are strong calls for protection,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said.

They added that the investigation’s conclusions were “objective, fair, and impartial”. The agriculture minister of Spain -- Europe’s top producer of pork and its derivatives -- said Spanish exporters faced an average duty of 9.8%, below an overall average of 19%.

The measures were therefore “acceptable” for Spain and the result “minimised”, Luis Planas told reporters in Madrid. China, the world’s leading consumer of pork, imported 4.3 billion yuan ($600 million) in pork products from Spain alone last year, according to official Chinese customs data.

France, meanwhile, exported 115,000 tonnes of pork to China in 2024, according to industry association Inaporc.

According to the new measures, Groupe Bigard, a major French pork producer, will be charged 9.8%, while Danish Crown will be hit with an 18.6% levy.