① The Ministry of Commerce announced that it will initiate an anti-dumping investigation into imported pork and pork by-products from the European Union, starting from June 17, 2024. ② The amount of pork exported from the European Union to China is relatively low compared to the consumption in China, and some industry insiders believe that it has little impact on China's live pig market. ③ As most of the pork exported from the European Union does not belong to European dietary habits, some analysts believe that the situation may have certain impacts on pork prices in the European Union.
On June 17, Caijing News (reporter Liu Jian, Wang Pingan) reported that the Ministry of Commerce issued a notice on June 17th, deciding to initiate anti-dumping investigations on imported pork and pork by-products from the EU from June 17, 2024. Caijing News reporters interviewed many industry insiders and learned that due to the sufficient supply of domestic pigs in China, the import quantity of pork from the EU accounts for a small proportion of the domestic consumption quantity, so it has little impact on the domestic pork market. However, due to dietary habits in Europe, increasing pressure on internal pork sales may further have a significant impact on its pig market.
According to public data, the cumulative Chinese pork production in 2023 was 57.94 million tons, while the total imported pork for the whole year was only 1.55 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 11.7%. The imported pork from the EU accounts for about half of China's total imports.
Caijing News reporters noted that from this data, the proportion of imported pork is only about 2.7% of domestic production, which is relatively small. Some industry insiders told Caijing News reporters, "As China is the world's largest consumer and producer of pork, the annual import volume is very small, and our country's own pork production is sufficient, so the impact on our country is small."
In fact, the amount of pork imported into China has been decreasing year by year. From 2014 to 2020, the domestic import volume showed an increasing trend, reaching a peak of 4.3922 million tons. However, from 2021 to 2023, the import volume has gradually decreased, and it was as low as 1.55 million tons last year.
However, this anti-dumping investigation may have a significant impact on the EU. It is understood that due to the dietary habits of Europeans, some of the exported products are somewhat difficult to sell in Europe. Some industry insiders previously told Caijing News reporters, "Pork offal, pig heads, hooves, and tails are not eaten by Westerners, and some of them (are imported) to China."
"If these pork products cannot be exported to China, it may cause the EU to be restricted to domestic sales, but due to their dietary habits, they may encounter difficulties in sales and can only be sold domestically at low prices, causing some impact on EU pork prices and further affect the breeding industry in Europe." Some analysts believe.
The notice from the Ministry of Commerce stated that the dumping investigation period specified in this investigation is from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, and the damage investigation period is from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2023.
In addition, the products under investigation are: imported pork and pork by-products related to the EU (Certain pork and pig by-products). Specifically, the investigated products are products processed after pig slaughter, including fresh, chilled, and frozen pork; fresh, chilled, and frozen pig offal for food; unrefined or extracted from other methods of fat pig meat, pig fat; fresh, chilled, frozen, dried, smoked, salted, or pickled pig intestine, bladder, and stomach, either whole or chopped.
The Ministry of Commerce stated that interested parties should register to participate in the anti-dumping investigation with the Trade Remedy Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce within 20 days from the date of publication of this notice. At the same time, interested parties can submit written opinions on the scope of the investigation, qualifications of applicants, investigated countries (regions), and other related issues to the Trade Remedy Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce within 20 days from the date of publication of this notice.