It was certainly big news: China is investigating Boxtel’s meat processing company Vion, which is allegedly “smuggling” large quantities of pork onto the Chinese market. Two other major European meat processing plants are also under the microscope. But what exactly is going on? Some important questions.
First of all, about the concept of “dumping”. Because what exactly is it? Dumping is selling products abroad at a price lower than in the domestic market. Thus, Vion, together with Crown from Denmark and Litera Meat from Spain, will be selling meat at an unfairly low price in China.
The suspicions appear to be part of a larger trade war between Western countries and China. In May, the United States announced it would raise tariffs on a range of Chinese goods. According to the United States, China sells electric cars and solar panels at very low prices in the American market.
The European Union took similar action last month against imports of electric cars from China. According to the EU, the Chinese government provides too much subsidy to car manufacturers, leading to unfair competition. European electric car manufacturers will suffer from this.
Now the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced an investigation into European meat processing companies. Rem Korteweg, a researcher at the Clingendael Research Institute, believes that China’s response is still moderate: “It was expected that China would come up with countermeasures.” number“For example, they could have also banned European cars from the market altogether.”
According to Korteweg, the measures against European pork are a logical choice. Agricultural products are often chosen as a response during a trade dispute, because they can affect very specific countries.
“Spain is the largest European exporter of pork to China,” says Korteweg. “It is also a major producer of electric cars.” So Spanish meat seems to be the prime target of the measure. According to Korteweg, the Netherlands and Denmark are likely to be in a “by-catch” situation.
But what next? Lawrence Hodemaker, director of the Central Meat Industry Authority, denies that such a thing is happening in the Asian country: “There is absolutely no dumping in the Chinese market. We are confident that the investigation will prove that.”
However, Hodemaker is concerned: “The fact that potential measures are announced always means that the Chinese government will do it.”