The Ministry of Commerce is shining its sword to uphold fair trade and safeguard the development of domestic industries
On December 22, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Anti subsidy Regulations of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling announcement, preliminarily determining that imported dairy products originating from the European Union are subject to subsidies, and implementing temporary anti subsidy measures on imported dairy products originating from the European Union from December 23, 2025.
The industry believes that the Ministry of Commerce strictly conducts investigations in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations and relevant rules of the World Trade Organization, always adhering to the principles of fairness, impartiality, openness, and transparency, fully safeguarding the rights of stakeholders. Temporary anti subsidy measures will effectively curb unfair trade practices and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the domestic dairy industry.
Industrial development urgently needs protection
With the upgrading of consumption and the improvement of consumer quality, the demand for high value-added dairy products such as cheese, cream, and cream in the domestic market continues to grow. China's dairy consumption is undergoing a transition from "drinking milk" to "eating milk". Against the backdrop of consumer changes and market trends, the Chinese dairy industry is facing new challenges in transformation and upgrading, such as improving deep processing capabilities and addressing structural weaknesses in the industry chain.
However, the domestic industry, which is still in the cultivation stage of deep processing, cannot meet market demand in a short period of time. The market gap combined with the price difference of raw milk between domestic and foreign factors has provided an opportunity for the EU dairy industry, which has long gained unfair price advantages due to subsidies. The influx of a large number of low-priced imported products such as cream and cheese has directly suppressed the production and profit margins of domestic products.
In recent years, some EU dairy products have entered the Chinese market in large quantities at unreasonable prices with the support of domestic subsidies, causing sustained impact on key sub sectors such as cream and cheese in China. This has led to a decrease in production capacity utilization and increased operational pressure for domestic enterprises, significantly restricting industrial transformation and upgrading, and seriously damaging the fair competition environment of the domestic dairy industry, "Liu Meiju, Executive Director of the China Dairy Industry Association, told International Business Daily reporters.
According to statistics from the China Dairy Industry Association, China imported 2.1824 million tons of various dairy products from January to October this year. Among them, the total imports of cheese, cream, and cream were 15600 tons, 118100 tons, and 214500 tons, respectively, with imports from the European Union accounting for 15%, 12%, and 29%, respectively. At the same time, the prices of these imported products are significantly lower than those of domestic products, seriously lowering the domestic market prices, resulting in long-term low operating rates of enterprises, difficulties in the production and operation of the domestic dairy industry, and squeezing the development space for transformation and upgrading.
Industry growth and cultivation require time and protection. In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the industry, the China Dairy Industry Association and the China Dairy Industry Association jointly applied for a countervailing investigation on behalf of the domestic dairy industry to the Ministry of Commerce in July 2024, truthfully reflecting the prominent problems and reasonable demands faced by the industry.
The preliminary decision is fair and compliant
In response to domestic industry applications, the Ministry of Commerce launched a countervailing investigation on imported dairy products originating from the European Union on August 21, 2024. On August 18, 2025, the Ministry of Commerce issued an extension notice, extending the investigation period of the case to February 21, 2026. The reporter noticed that it took 16 months from the initiation of the investigation to the release of the preliminary ruling announcement.
This fully demonstrates the fairness of the preliminary ruling decision, "Dr. Zhang Xiaopeng from the Shanghai Open Strategy Research Center told International Business Daily reporters. During the investigation of the case, the Ministry of Commerce fully protected the rights of all stakeholders and made an objective and fair ruling based on the collected evidence through holding hearings and listening to comments and opinions.
On the day of the announcement of the preliminary determination, the head of the Trade Relief Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce introduced the detailed investigation of the case, saying that after the case was filed, the investigating authority conducted the investigation openly and transparently in accordance with the law, including issuing questionnaires and supplementary questionnaires, listening to comments, holding hearings, conducting on-site inspections of the EU and its member governments and sample enterprises, and conducting on-site investigations of Chinese domestic enterprises, which fully guaranteed the rights of all stakeholders.
After more than a year of careful investigation, preliminary evidence shows that the EU has provided significant subsidies to agricultural sectors such as the dairy and dairy products industry through subsidy programs such as the Common Agricultural Policy. The Ministry of Commerce preliminarily believes that there are subsidies for EU related dairy products, which have caused substantial damage to China's domestic industry, and the causal relationship between the two is established. Based on the response information submitted by the European Commission and the sampled companies, as well as the on-site verification results, the Ministry of Commerce has preliminarily determined that the tax rate for the sampled companies is 21.9% to 42.7%.
In terms of legality and compliance, Zhang Xiaopeng stated that this case was initiated in response to the application of domestic industries in China. According to relevant Chinese laws and regulations and WTO rules, domestic industries have the right to file trade remedy applications to maintain normal market competition order and their legitimate rights. After receiving the application, the Ministry of Commerce conducted pre filing consultations with the European side on subsidy matters in accordance with legal procedures, and reviewed the materials and relevant evidence submitted by the applicant.
Industry enterprises strongly support it
After the preliminary ruling announcement was released, associations such as the China Dairy Industry Association and the China Dairy Products Industry Association, as well as domestic enterprises, have spoken out, believing that the investigation will effectively curb unfair trade practices and effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the domestic dairy industry. Thank you to the relevant departments for using trade remedy measures to safeguard domestic industrial interests and boost industry confidence.
The China Dairy Industry Association issued a statement stating that the preliminary ruling and temporary anti subsidy measures taken by the Ministry of Commerce comply with WTO rules and Chinese laws, and are conducive to curbing unfair trade practices, reducing the impact of imported subsidized products on the domestic industry, and creating a more fair, transparent, and predictable market environment for domestic dairy enterprises. This is of great significance for boosting industry confidence and promoting high-quality development of the industry.
The China Dairy Industry Association also stated that the Ministry of Commerce has conducted investigations and taken anti subsidy measures in accordance with laws and regulations, effectively maintaining a fair competition environment and domestic industry interests. The measures taken will help alleviate the impact of imports and boost industry confidence, and the China Dairy Industry Association strongly supports this.
As leading enterprises in the Chinese industry, Yili and Mengniu have issued a statement stating that the Ministry of Commerce has conducted investigations in accordance with laws and regulations and taken temporary anti subsidy measures. The investigation conclusions are in line with objective facts, reasonable and well founded, scientifically rigorous, and effectively maintain a fair competition environment and domestic industrial interests.
Industry insiders believe that the anti subsidy tax is a "shield" that provides a "window" for the growth of domestic industries. But in order for China's dairy industry to completely break free from the "cyclical" dilemma, it needs to sharpen its own "spear" - that is, to adapt to the trend of "qualitative change" in the market, accelerate the filling of deep processing shortcomings through top-level strategic design, enhance product added value, achieve breakthroughs in core technologies, and win recognition in the consumer market.