(Dec 16): China set final import tariffs on European Union pork at significantly lower levels than initially announced in September.
Beijing will impose anti-dumping levies ranging from 4.9% to 19.8% on meat from one of the world’s biggest supply regions, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday (Dec 16) in a statement on its website. Preliminary duties set in September had been as high as 62.4%.
The tariffs, which take effect Wednesday and will remain in place for five years, were finalised after Beijing determined that the EU had been dumping certain pork and pig by-products and that substantial harm had been caused to China’s domestic industry, according to the statement.
China has been struggling with an oversupply of pork and sluggish consumption due to a sustained economic downturn. Even at lower levels, the levies are another blow to beleaguered European hog farmers who are contending with slowing demand and fallout from disease outbreaks.
Major pork exporter Danish Crown A/S and some units of Vion Food Group will face duties of 18.6% and 19.8% respectively, less than the provisional rates. Other companies will also see reduced tariffs, according to the final ruling.
China launched an anti-dumping probe into shipments from the bloc last June, part of a series of countermeasures to Brussels’ investigations into Chinese subsidies across a range of industries. In early October, the EU voted to impose tariffs as high as 45% on electric vehicles from the Asian nation.
See also: China steps up price-war scrutiny as cars keep getting cheaper
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