Commercial retaliation or just a warning? On Friday 5 January, the Chinese Ministry of Trade announced the opening of an anti-dumping investigation into several types of European hard liquor. The original application was submitted on 30 November 2023 by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association (CADA) on behalf of the national brandy industry.
The investigation concerns alcoholic beverages “made from distilled wine imported from the EU and packaged in containers of 200 litres or less”, according to the Ministry’s announcement.
This decision comes at a time when the EU has itself opened several anti-dumping investigations against Chinese exports (see EUROPE 13318/28, 13264/21), the most notable being the one announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last September against electric vehicles (see EUROPE 13249/1).
At the beginning of September, barely 2 weeks before the Commission’s announcement, the Netherlands had already begun applying new restrictions on exports to China of advanced microprocessor production machinery.
French alcohol exports are the primary target of this Chinese survey: the country has a 46.28% market share by value and 26.90% by volume, according to the ‘Team France Exports’ scheme. In 2023, China will represent the fourth largest market, behind the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, according to figures published in September by FEVS (the French Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters).
The fact that France lobbied hard for the investigation into Chinese electric vehicles was apparently not lost on Beijing.
Against a backdrop of tense relations between China and the EU, both in terms of trade and geopolitics (see EUROPE 13319/21, 13309/21), the opening of this investigation is seen as Beijing’s response to recent developments in European trade strategy. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)