China opens an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation against European wine. The decision came after the European Commission formally imposed provisional anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panel exporters.
The ministry would have decided to proceed with the investigation against European wine exporters to China at the request of a consortium of local producers, after noticing a rapid increase in EU wine imports in recent years. Last year the country imported 430 million liters of wine (of which two thirds came from the 27 member countries of the EU) and in just seven years Chinese imports have almost tenfold, going from 500 hectoliters in 2006 to 4 million today.
Now the ball passes to the EU. In December it will have to decide whether to impose permanent tariffs for a maximum period of 5 years. The reason that prompted the European executive to impose provisional duties on Chinese exporters of solar panels is that the price of Chinese solar panels in the Old Continent is 88% lower than what they should be sold for. And, as a result of this dumping, Chinese producers have managed to acquire 80% of the EU market in the last two years.
