DAIRY SECTOR BEING HELD HOSTAGE: INDUSTRY LEADERS
Industry leaders said the sector is being held hostage, with the European Dairy Association’s secretary-general calling on the Commission to prevent the industry becoming collateral damage in a wider dispute with Beijing.
The EU exported almost US$2 billion in dairy products to China last year.
“China does this more and more often, threatening with measures against the meat industry, the pork industry in particular, because they know a few countries are going to have big problems when they follow through with it,” said Caroline van der Plas, party leader of the Farmer Citizen Movement – a Dutch agrarian and right-wing populist political party.
These countries include the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain. They are the EU’s top exporters of pork and consider China to be a big market.
Signs have emerged of China’s retaliatory actions dividing the bloc, with member countries split on their support for the EV tariffs.
Top EU and Chinese trade officials have agreed to intensify efforts to find a resolution to these trade disputes.
In the meantime, those across a number of impacted sectors hope that officials will take time to chew over the potential stakes of a permanent confrontation between the two powers.
The proposed final duties will be implemented by the end of October unless a qualified majority of 15 EU members representing 65 per cent of the EU population votes against the levies.
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