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Three-month extension for China’s anti-dumping inquiry

China has extended its anti-dumping investigation into brandy imports from the European Union (EU) until 5 April 2025.

Cognac in a glass on a barrel
China launched its investigation into EU brandy and Cognac at the beginning of 2024

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) originally launched an investigation on 5 January 2024. It was due to last one year, but has been extended by three months.

A statement from a press conference on 26 December, which was posted on MOFCOM’s account on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), said: “Following the application of the domestic brandy industry, we initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imported brandy from the EU in January 2024.

“The investigation was conducted in strict accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, as well as WTO [World Trade Organization] rules, leading to a preliminary ruling in August 2024.

“The EU exporters have submitted an application for price undertakings and the domestic brandy industry has legally sought protection. Given the intricacies involved in this investigation and at the request of the EU side, the investigating authorities decided to extend the final decision deadline, with the hope that the parties concerned would continue their cooperation in the investigation.”

‘Dumping’ is a term referring to when a company sells a product in a foreign market at a price that is lower than the price charged in its home market. This practice is considered unfair as the price in the overseas market would not reflect the true value of the product.

In October 2024, China announced it would impose provisional tariffs on brandy from the EU as trade tensions between Beijing and Brussels escalated. The tariffs came into effect on 11 October, marking a U-turn on China’s previous declaration in August that it would not apply anti-dumping measures on EU brandy or Cognac ‘for the time being’.

Data and analytics company GlobalData said the move could impact sales volumes of brandy and Cognac in China, and result in a long-term shift in consumer attitudes towards brandy from the EU.

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