The European Union (EU) has abandoned plans to impose protective safeguard duties on imports from China of frozen strawberries. This follows the withdrawal of a complaint by Poland, the member state that had been pressing for protection.


Chinese strawberry producers however could now face an EU anti-dumping duty instead, as an investigation into establishing this potentially permanent tariff barrier has been launched by the European Commission.


The switch comes as Norway has announced it will erect safeguard duties on imports into its territory of potato flakes and granules, once annual imports from any source have exceeded 199.4 tonnes, said a World Trade Organisation note.