China has reduced its import tariffs on EU dairy imports from the provisional rates imposed in December.
The European Commission and The European Dairy Association (EDA) had lobbied Beijing in opposition to the duties ranging from 21.9% to 42.7%, which were put in place by China’s Ministry of Commerce last year following an anti-dumping probe launched in 2024.
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On Friday (30 January), the Commission notified the relevant European dairy bodies of the tariff cuts to 11.7% on the top side, with some EU companies enjoying even lower rates of 9.5%, such as Denmark-headquartered Arla Foods and France-based Lactalis.
The EDA told Just Food it is due to meet with the Commission this week to discuss the new tariffs.
“An EU response should focus on defending market access, supporting affected exporters where necessary, and avoiding escalation that could further disrupt dairy markets,” the association said in a brief statement.
It added: “China blames EU dairy imports for the drop in Chinese domestic sales prices, but our own analysis shows that there is no impact from CAP [Common Agriculture Policy] instruments on Chinese markets for cheese and cream.
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By GlobalData“All CAP measures cited by the Chinese authorities have been notified to and approved by the WTO.”
China said in December that the provisional duties followed a proposal submitted to the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.
The investigation started in August last year to ascertain whether the EU was guilty of exporting dairy products to the Asian country at prices that put local producers at an unfair advantage. The probe followed similar enquiries launched by China for pork and brandy shipped from the European trading bloc.
Belgium-headquartered trade body Eucolait said it was disappointed by China’s tariffs on dairy despite the lowered rates.
“China remains the world’s largest importer of dairy products and ingredients, and the EU plays a significant role in meeting this demand,” it said in a statement.
“Cream and cheese shipments to China form an important part of the EU’s high-value export portfolio. The announced duties, while considerably lower than the provisionally applied tariffs, will continue undermining the EU’s competitiveness on the Chinese market.”
“Eucolait is confident that Europe’s dairy trade with China takes place in full compliance with international trade rules. We support the European Commission’s efforts to defend our sector against unjustified trade measures and call for a constructive and sustainable solution to this dispute.”
The European Commission had not responded to Just Food’s request for comment on the new duties and potential next steps at the time of writing.
Late last year, China went ahead and slapped import duties on EU pork for five years but at lower rates than the previously announced preliminary tariffs.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities agreed to reduce import tariffs on UK whiskies, including Scotch, following a visit from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to Beijing.
China’s Ministry of Finance said “a provisional import tariff rate of 5% will be applied to whisky” as of today (2 February). The UK government said rates were being reduced on Scotch from 10% to 5%.
