China says EU brandy being dumped on local market, but won’t impose duties – for now

Beijing’s decision may calm trade tensions for now, but a key vote on whether to slap tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles is looming

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Any tariffs would mainly affect French cognac makers. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:24pm, 29 Aug 2024Updated: 9:31pm, 29 Aug 2024

An investigation by Beijing has found that European Union brandy is being dumped on the Chinese market at a rate significantly lower than its retail price in Europe, threatening “substantial damage” to local industry.

However, the authorities stopped short of imposing provisional anti-dumping duties, a move that may temporarily reduce tensions in the brewing EU-China trade war.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a preliminary ruling on Thursday that the imports – which mostly come from France – had a retail price that was between 30.6 per cent and 39 per cent lower than that in Europe.

The ministry concluded that the highest margin applied to the French cognac brand Hennessy. The other well-known French producers investigated were Remy Martin, which had a margin of 38.1 per cent, at Martell & Co, which had one of 30.6 per cent.

A margin of 34.8 per cent was applied to dozens of other firms. Should duties be applied at a later date, they are likely to be in line with these calculations.

An EU spokesman said the commission was “fully confident that our cognac exports to China are completely in line with all applicable WTO [World Trade Organization] rules”.