【By Observer News, Wang Kaiwen】The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a notice on September 5, preliminarily ruling that dumped pork and pig by-products originating from the EU are being imported into China, and decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures in the form of deposit guarantees.

According to information disclosed by officials from the Ministry of Commerce, the tariff rates faced by companies in the EU will range between 15.6% and 62.4%.

Foreign media outlets such as Bloomberg and the UK's Financial Times analyzed that China's anti-dumping measures will further hit EU farmers already in trouble. The EU stated on the 5th that it is studying China's anti-dumping decision.

Last June 17, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced an investigation into the import of related pork and pig by-products from the EU. In June this year, the Ministry decided to extend the investigation period to December 16, 2025.

The Financial Times reported that China's statement on the 5th ended any hope that China might further delay the collection of related tariffs.

According to the preliminary ruling announcement released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on September 5, the dumping margins of EU companies were determined to be 15.6%-62.4%. The head of the Department of Trade Remedy Investigations of the Ministry of Commerce said to reporters that the dumping behavior of the relevant EU products, the damage caused to the domestic industry, and the causal relationship between them have been established, and the decision was made to implement temporary anti-dumping measures in the form of deposit guarantees.

It was reported that companies cooperating with the investigation, including several companies from Spain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, will be subject to tax rates ranging from 15.6% to 32.7%, while other EU companies that did not cooperate with the Chinese investigation will be subject to a tax rate of 62.4%.

Spain, France, Denmark and the Netherlands are the main EU countries supplying pork products to China. Reuters chart

Bloomberg reported that currently EU pig farmers are struggling to cope with the impact of slowing demand and the outbreak of the epidemic, and high tariffs will bring further blows to them.

The EU is the second-largest pork producer in the world after China, and also the largest exporter of pork and pork products. The Financial Times pointed out that at the time of China's announcement of anti-dumping measures against EU pork, EU farmers are facing pressure from rising costs, falling prices, and reduced exports.

The report stated that the decrease in EU pork exports is mainly due to the decline in pork imports from mainland China and Hong Kong. With the continuous growth of the number of pigs in mainland China, in 2024, mainland China and Hong Kong purchased 1.18 million tons of EU pork products, far below the 3.6 million tons in 2020. Despite this, China remains the largest market for EU pork.

Notably, the pork products imported by China from the EU include parts such as pig ears, snouts, and feet, which are not popular in Europe. Analysts say that exporting these parts to China helps increase the value of the whole pig and provides Europe with a "valuable and important" market, so terminating these orders would lead to significant business losses in the European pork industry.

Antonio Tavares, head of the pork working group of the EU agricultural lobby group Copa-Cogeca, said that China's anti-dumping measures will cause "serious damage" to the EU industry.

"This is a worrying message for us. We are worried that this may affect prices in the European market," said Anne Richard, a director of the French Pig Industry Association INAPORC.

Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said on the 5th local time that the EU is studying China's decision to impose temporary tariffs on EU pork imports. He also said that recent EU trade agreements, including one with Mexico, are helping EU pork producers gain more market access opportunities.

At a time when European pork exports to China are blocked, European farmers are also facing pressure from American agricultural products. According to the trade agreement reached last month between the EU and the US, the EU has committed to providing preferential market access for US seafood and agricultural products.

However, Reuters analyzed that the current announcement by China is only the preliminary ruling, and there is still room for change before the end of the investigation period in December. The report mentioned that China has previously extended investigations after imposing tariffs, such as in the case of Canadian canola.

Rogers Pay, an agricultural analyst at Trivium China, a policy consulting company based in Beijing, believes that with only a few months until the end of the year, the possibility of both sides reaching a solution through negotiations is "getting smaller and smaller."

This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer News, and without permission, it cannot be reprinted.

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