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China has imposed preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 62 per cent on European pork in a move seen as retaliation for the EU’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports.
China’s ministry of commerce said that after more than a year of investigation, “preliminary evidence indicates that imported pork and pork products from the EU are being dumped, causing substantial harm to the relevant domestic industry”. It announced temporary duties of between 15.6 per cent and 62.4 per cent.
When Beijing announced the investigation in June last year, the European agricultural industry said farmers in Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Belgium would be hit hardest.
The investigation is widely regarded as retaliation against Brussels’ move last year to raise tariffs to up to 45 per cent on some producers as part of an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese EVs.
Brussels has since announced various anti-subsidy probes and other types of investigations into a range of Chinese products, as tensions rise over China’s massive trade surplus with the bloc.
China extended the investigation into EU pork imports in June this year for six months. But Friday’s announcement ended any hopes that it might further postpone tariffs.
Olof Gill, a European Commission trade spokesperson, said the commission would study China’s announcement. But he said its investigation “was based on questionable allegations and insufficient evidence and thus was not in line with WTO rules”.
He added that recent trade deals, including one with Mexico, were increasing market access for EU pork producers.
The Chinese measures come as EU pig farmers are already feeling the pressure of cost inflation, falling prices and a reduction in exports, which dropped by two-thirds between 2020 and 2024 to 4.3mn tonnes.
Most of the reduction was in greater China as the mainland increased its pig herd. China and Hong Kong bought 1.18mn tonnes, down from 3.6mn in 2020, with the mainland still the biggest market.
China buys animal parts unpopular in Europe such as the head and trotters, helping to shore up profit margins.
Farmers also face increased imports. Brussels has proposed offering the US an annual duty free quota of 25,000 tonnes as part of its recent trade deal. The deal also imposed 15 per cent tariffs on EU exports to the US, which were more than $700mn in 2024.
On Wednesday, the EU submitted a trade deal with the Mercosur bloc for approval. That would allow the South American countries to export a further 25,000 tonnes duty-free to the bloc.
The EU is the world’s second-biggest producer of pork after China and the biggest exporter of pork and pork products. Germany, Spain and France are the biggest producers.
