La Cina colpisce con dazi fino al 19,8% sul maiale europeo come ritorsione per le tasse UE sulle auto elettriche, ma esclude il prosciutto iberico

China has definitively hit the pork sector of the European Union, but the cannon shot has been less than expected. The Ministry of Commerce of the Asian giant announced on Tuesday that it will apply tariffs of up to 19.8% to European pigs after the conclusion of the anti-dumping investigation launched last year on pork meat and by-products imported from the Community bloc. The investigation excluded Iberian ham, so the imposition of tariffs does not affect that Spanish product.

The levies, considered a reprisal for the imposition from Brussels of taxes on the entry into the European market of Chinese electric cars, are in any case ostensibly lower than the tariffs provisionally announced in September, when Beijing proposed rates of up to 62.4%. The measures will come into force this Wednesday and will be imposed for a period of five years, as announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce through a statement.

The tariffs finally adopted vary between the 4.9% imposed on the Spanish company Litera Meat – which was one of the companies taken as a reference in the investigation – and the 19.8% set against the companies that did not want to collaborate with the investigations of the Chinese Government and against the Dutch Vion. The firms that cooperated, among which are the rest of the Spanish ones (such as El Pozo and Campofrío), have been taxed with 9.8%. The new levies are added to the 12% that already existed for pork products before the provisional tariff.

“The investigating authorities finally determined that pork and pork by-products imported from the European Union were being dumped, causing significant damage to national industry, and that there was a causal link between dumping and that important damage,” says the statement issued by the aforementioned Ministry.

The measure does not affect Spanish Iberian ham because this product was not in the investigation opened by China for possible violation of competition. It does affect, on the other hand, products processed from slaughtered pigs, including fresh, chilled and frozen pork meat; fresh, refrigerated and frozen pork offal; and fresh, refrigerated, frozen, dried, smoked, salted or pickled fat and lard that are not refined or extracted by other methods and that do not contain lean meat; and whole or cut pig intestines, bladders and stomachs, fresh, refrigerated, frozen, dried, smoked, salted or pickled.

The report of the resolution indicates that imports from the European Union of the products mentioned incur unfair competition — dumping consists of selling at prices below cost, in order to take over the market — and have caused substantial damage to Chinese domestic industry.

A Chinese Trade spokesman has justified the imposition of the measure in the “operational difficulties” that Chinese industry is going through, so “there is a strong demand for protection,” as he explained in a statement on Tuesday. He also assures that the investigation has been carried out “in accordance with the law and regulations in force,” and that “the opinions of all interested parties were widely listened to and their rights were fully guaranteed, reaching conclusions in an objective, fair and impartial manner.”

For Spain it was a critical investigation, being the main exporting country of pork from the EU to China. For Spanish companies, the Chinese market accounted for about 20% of exports in 2024, with a value of more than 1 billion euros. And the sector has not gone badly at all in this game of geoeconomic chess.

From the Interprofessional Agri-Food Organization of Pigs of Capa Blanca (Interporc), which represents the entire value chain of pigs, from livestock to processing and marketing, they make a positive assessment of the announcement and consider that the final reduction in the taxes applied are the result of the continuous conversations they have had with the Chinese authorities, to which the visits to China of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the most recent of the Kings of Spain in November have also contributed.

“Spain benefits,” says Alberto Herranz, director of Interporc, to the phone. He considers that the level of tariffs set for Spanish companies is positive: “It positions us well in the Chinese market and especially with respect to other competitors.”

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Spain is sus

imagine being a tiny continent and pretending to hit the world’s biggest manufacturer with tariffs, as if they can’t leverage back.

Obviously Chinese people living in Spain have told their families back in China what’s good and what’s not.

I hope my local Costco carries the authentic Iberian ham someday. The current selection is just ok.

Just in time for cheap Christmas pork here in Europe?

Lol fuck their low quality cars.

We should not have international trade i meta and animal feed anyways.

Well, they know what’s good