Beijing lowers tariffs on EU pork in final anti-dumping result

China's commerce ministry (MofCom) released a final ruling in its EU pork anti-dumping investigation on December 16.

• The investigation has dragged on for the past 18 months.

The headline: Beijing significantly reduced tariffs relative to the preliminary findings released in September.

• The lowest rate – applied to pork from Spanish meat processor Litera Meat SL – was reduced from over 15% to under 5% in the final tariff schedule.
• The highest rate – applied to a handful of companies that participated in the investigation, as well as all non-participant exporters – was dropped from over 60% to 19.8%.

Get this: Spain dodged a bullet. As far as we can tell, all participating Spanish-owned exporters received tariff rates under 10%.

• That's the latest in a series of recent signals that Sino-Spanish relations are on firm footing.

The upshot: High-end pork products should be able to weather these tariff rates, but they will eat away at demand for European pork within more price sensitive segments.

• That will provide Chinese pig farming companies – which are struggling with overcapacity and deflationary prices – with more market exposure.

The bigger picture: Beijing and Brussels spent 18 months trying to find a negotiated solution to their myriad trade disputes.

• While negotiations stopped short of averting these tariffs, the lower rates suggest that dialogue has been constructive, rather than destructive, for Beijing's relationship with the bloc.