Juan Javier Ríos
Madrid, June 14 (EFECOM).- China has focused on European pork imports after the tariffs announced by the EU on the purchase of electric cars from the Asian giant, a situation that puts the Spanish pork sector in suspense, which It invoiced more than 1,000 million in that destination in the last year.
Yesterday, Thursday, Chinese authorities reported that their industries “have the right to submit an investigation request” on imports of European dairy and pork products in retaliation for the tariffs announced by the EU.
This Friday it became known that several Chinese companies have formally requested the authorities to open an anti-dumping investigation against imports of European pork, according to the official press.
For the moment, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in charge of announcing this type of investigation on previous occasions, has not confirmed the opening of investigations either.
The current agri-food balance between Spain and China reflects that national products have been able to carve out a relevant niche in that country for a decade, thanks mainly to the boost and attractiveness of pork meat and offal.
So much so that 61% of the turnover that Spain obtains from the sale of agri-food products to China is from the sale of pork; followed far by the 109 million invoiced for beverage exports and 97 million for oil (74 of them for olive oil), according to the latest balance report (moving year to March 2024).
This tension in EU-China trade relations occurs just a decade after another issue that had an impact on the European agri-food business.
It was Russia’s veto on the entry of most Community agri-food products, a slam that the pork sector, one of the most affected, tried to overcome by seeking new markets such as China.
Russia closed the door in the summer of 2014 after the economic sanctions imposed by the European Union in response to Russia’s unilateral annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
This worsening of trade with China is also partly reminiscent of the trade conflict that continues to be experienced between the United States and the EU, with special impact on Spain, due to tariffs on black olives.
Six years ago, the United States imposed high tariffs (35%) on this food, considering that they were “dumping” its national production.
Specifically, the US Administration argued that the aid received by the Spanish sector from the Community Agricultural Policy (CAP) was illegal and caused significant damage to the Californian table olive sector.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of Spain in the dispute with a November 2021 decision stating that US tariffs were not compatible with international regulations.
However, in July of last year, the WTO reopened the dispute by creating a panel to determine whether the US was complying with its ruling, because they found that it had only partially reduced its tariffs.
An episode that seems to have no end. Just three months ago the EU announced that it was considering adopting new measures if the United States did not comply.
Now it remains to be seen the extent of the dispute between the EU and China after the announcement of tariffs on the purchase of electric vehicles from the Asian giant. EFECOM
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