MOFCOM praises poultry deal
▶ Agreement will benefit importers, consumers: expert
The recent agreement between China and the EU on a Chinese poultry tariff quota shows that the multilateral trading system plays a vital role in maintaining the world trade order, and the agreement will help create a fair trade environment for the domestic industry, a senior Chinese official of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday.
On November 30, China and the EU reached a consensus in Geneva, with the latter agreeing to offer a new tariff quota for Chinese poultry exports, including a 5,000-ton global quota for chicken meat and a 6,600ton quota for duck meat for China alone, said MOFCOM spokesperson Gao Feng at a press conference in Beijing.
The EU is scheduled to apply the tariff quota allocation in the first quarter of 2019.
The EU is one of the major global markets for Chinese poultry, but exports from China have long been restricted, according to MOFCOM.
For instance, Brazil and Thailand were allocated 79,477 tons and 160,033 tons of certain chicken products, respectively, and the remaining 11,443-ton quota was given to China and some other countries.
On April 8, 2015, China filed a consultation request with the EU regarding poultry tariff quota management measures and officially launched the dispute settlement procedure at the WTO.
The case shows China’s use of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to safeguard domestic industrial interests, and it is a successful example of China dealing with trade disputes under the WTO framework with other members, Gao said.
Gao noted that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism plays a vital role in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of its members, and the multilateral trading system is significant in maintaining the international trade order.
The agreement reached by China and the EU is reciprocal and will be conducive to the sound and sustainable growth of the domestic poultry industry as well as importers and consumers in the EU markets, said Yu Lu, vice chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce.
Yu told the Global Times on Thursday that the EU’s opening of tariff quotas will help secure the Chinese sector, which has attracted investment worth around 2.8 billion yuan ($407 million) since 2008, and add more than 50,000 jobs.
If the quota is fully applied, the annual growth rate of chicken meat exports is likely to rise by 25 percent year-on-year in 2019 and the growth rate of duck meat exports will increase by 50 percent year-on-year next year in the EU market, according to Yu.
China’s poultry exports totaled 428,000 tons worth $1.49 billion in the first ten months, 28,000 tons of which were exported to EU markets, accounting for 6.5 percent of the country’s total exports, according to MOFCOM.