China to impose anti-dumping duties on EU pork for five years

China will impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.9% to 19.8% on some European Union pork products, the country's commerce ministry announced on Tuesday.

These import taxes are lower than the provisional duties imposed in September, which ranged from 15.6 to 62.4 percent, but will apply for five years.

The duties will be imposed from December 17, after an anti-dumping investigation found that imports from the bloc „were dumped and the domestic industry suffered serious injury as a result“, the ministry said in a statement.

The Chinese investigation began last year when Brussels was looking into Beijing's state subsidies for electric cars.

„At present, the domestic industry is facing difficulties, so there is a strong need to protect it“,– a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday, adding that the findings of the investigation are„objective, fair and impartial“.

China – the world's largest consumer of pork – imported 4.3 billion yuan (US$600 million) worth of pork products from major producer Spain alone last year, official Chinese customs data show.