Beijing News recently reported that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce held a press conference on June 5, at which it announced the beginning of an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation of wines imported from the European Union (EU). The EU made a decision on June 4 to charge anti-dumping duties for photovoltaic solar products imported from China. The EU decision had a major impact on a trade volume of over US$20 billion. Several EU member countries voted against the EU decision but could not change the final outcome. The China-EU wine trade volume is relatively low (around US$1.04 billion). However this sector has enjoyed a rapid growth in the past several years. The wine industry in the EU has a long supply chain across the entire Union. Its export profit margin is much higher than that of the photovoltaic solar products. The Chinese investigation is especially damaging to wines from France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. There is still room for negotiation. The Chinese Fair Import/Export Trade Bureau insisted that the Chinese investigation has nothing to do with the EU decision on photovoltaic products. It is based solely on the requests that the the Chinese wine industry filed.
Source: Beijing News, June 6, 2013
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