China imposes temporary tariffs of up to 62% on European pork

BarcelonaChina's Ministry of Commerce announced Friday that it will impose temporary tariffs of up to 62.4% on a range of pork and pork products starting next Wednesday as part of an anti-dumping investigation in retaliation for Community taxes on electric vehicles in the Asian countryIn a statement posted on its website, Chinese authorities indicated that the aforementioned tax will be applied to companies that do not cooperate with their investigations; for those that do, the tariff will be 20%. However, there is an exception for the sample companies, which will be taxed with rates ranging from 15.6% for the Spanish company Litera Meat to 32.7% for the Dutch company Vion.

Among the state-owned companies affected by the 20% tax are El Pozo, Noel, Campofrío, Cárnicas Cinco Villas, Friselva, and Sánchez Romero Carvajal. On June 10, Beijing extended this investigation, which has been ongoing for more than a year, until December 16 to halt alleged unfair competition from European companies that is "causing damage" to the Chinese sector. Later, the Chinese ministry will announce which tariffs it will impose permanently. These investigations target pork and offal from the EU—both chilled and frozen—as well as pork fat and derivatives, or viscera. Spain is among the main suppliers of these products.

However, it should be remembered that this investigation excludes Iberian ham, one of the most representative products of Spanish gastronomy worldwide, or sausages, which are barely sold in China. The Asian country is an important destination for offal and the least sought-after parts of pigs in Europe, such as ears, snouts, and feet. The EU allocated 55% of its pork exports to China in 2020 due to a lack of production following a severe African swine fever epidemic, but the figure dropped to 30% in 2023 as domestic production recovered.

540,000 tons of exports

In the specific case of Spain, in 2024, some 540,000 tons of pork products were exported to China, valued at €1.097 billion, representing almost 20% of the total export volume and 12.5% of the value of the sector's foreign sales, according to data published by the pork industry association. Furthermore, pork is, according to reports from the Spanish government, the second most important item in the country's agri-food exports, behind only olive oil. Aside from Spain, other European nations that will be affected by these tariffs include the Netherlands and Denmark.

The sector's association Anafric, which collaborated with the Chinese authorities in this investigation and obtained the provisional 20% tariff for the participating companies, stated in a statement that they will analyze the possible impact on Spanish companies and maintain "ongoing dialogue" until the end.