The Ministry of Commerce of China File photo: VCG

China has decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures on certain pork and pig by-products originating from the EU, starting September 10, according to a preliminary ruling announced by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Friday.

Such imports involved dumping and caused substantial damage to the related domestic industry, the ministry said in the ruling posted on its website.

Authorities have decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures in the form of deposits on those imports. Importers are required to provide deposits to Chinese customs authorities based on the rates specified for each company. The deposit rate will range from 15.6 percent to 62.4 percent, according to the ministry.

"China has consistently exercised caution and restraint in the use of trade remedy measures," an official from the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau of the MOFCOM said on Friday, adding that the country firmly opposes the abuse of such measures and is willing to work with the EU through dialogue and consultation to properly address trade frictions, maintaining the overall stability of China-EU economic and trade cooperation. 

Since 2025, China has not initiated any new investigations against the EU, only issuing final rulings on two anti-dumping cases involving brandy and polyformaldehyde copolymer. In the brandy case, the investigation authorities fully considered the concerns of EU enterprises and resolved the matter through a price undertaking agreement, according to the official.

However, during the same period, the EU initiated six anti-dumping investigations against China, issued preliminary rulings and imposed temporary anti-dumping duties on 16 cases, and issued final rulings with formal duties on 12 cases, the official said.

The investigation will continue in strict accordance with China's laws and WTO rules, ensuring the rights of all interested parties, with the final determination to be made objectively and fairly based on the investigation results, the official added. 

"The investigation was launched and conducted in strict accordance with China's anti-dumping laws and regulations, as well as WTO rules, with questionnaires being handed out to EU exporters or producers, domestic producers and importers and sufficiently soliciting feedback from all stakeholders," Shi Xiaoli, a professor at the School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.

Based on this, the conclusion reached is objective, and the preliminary ruling is fact-based and justified. It is a necessary move to maintain fair import order and safeguard the legitimate interests of domestic industries, Shi said.

Key takeaways from the case

In June 2024, the MOFCOM launched an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products imported from the EU after receiving an application from China Animal Agriculture Association (CAAA) on behalf of the domestic industry, the ministry said in a previous statement.

The announcement followed an exclusive report in the Global Times in May 2024 in which a business insider said that relevant Chinese industries were gathering evidence, as they were planning to apply to competent authorities to launch an anti-dumping investigation into imports of certain pork from the EU. 

MOFCOM's statement in last June said the China Animal Agriculture Association on June 6, 2024, on behalf of the Chinese pork and pig by-products industry, submitted an application for an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products originating from the EU.  

The EU is the largest source of China's imports of pork and relevant products. In 2020-23, pork products imported from the EU accounted for an average of 54 percent of China's total imports of such products, according to the application on the MOFCOM website.

The influx of large volumes of pork from the EU has a notable negative impact on the domestic pork industry in China, according to the China Animal Agriculture Association. Furthermore, it caused notable harm to the domestic hog farming industry, leading to a cumulative decline of 54 percent in national hog slaughter prices from 2020 to 2023, according to the association, stressing that it severely impacted the interests of breeders and farmers. 

The ministry in June announced to extend the anti-dumping investigation period for certain pork and pig by-products originating from the EU, which was originally expected to end before June 17, 2025, till December 16, 2025, due to the complexity of the case. 

EU's notorious record

China has always been prudent in the use of anti-dumping measures, initiating only 38 investigations against the EU. In contrast, the EU has launched a cumulative 263 trade remedy investigations against China, making it the third-largest initiator of trade remedy investigations targeting China globally, Shi said.

The EU has introduced the "market distortion" notion to make it possible for the bloc to extend the surrogate country approach, which denies Chinese domestic prices and instead allows using prices in a third country to decide whether Chinese companies are dumping products in the EU and then calculating dumping margins. Through this method, the EU purposely fabricates dumping or exaggerates dumping margins in order to achieve its goal of cracking down on China's exports, Shi said.   

Furthermore, by arbitrarily defining "public organizations" and "transnational subsidies," the EU abuses anti-subsidy measures. China has consistently urged the EU to stop abusing trade remedy measures against China by launching lawsuits at the WTO and in other ways, hoping to resolve trade frictions through bilateral talks, Shi said.

Call for cooperation

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, there are frequent exchanges between China and the EU in the economic and trade field.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held a meeting via video link with European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic on July 22, during which the two sides conducted frank and in-depth discussions on China-EU economic and trade cooperation and related key issues. Wang also made solemn representations regarding the EU's inclusion of two Chinese financial institutions in its 18th round of sanctions against Russia, according to a statement on the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) website.

China hopes that the EU side will cherish the long-standing cooperative relationship forged between China and the EU as well as its members in the economic, trade and financial sectors, correct its wrongdoings, and stop undermining the interests of China as well as China-EU cooperation, a spokesperson of the MOFCOM said on August 13.