China to investigate EU dairy subsidies including one Irish scheme

The Ministry of Commerce of China has begun an investigation into subsidies paid to European dairy farmers, with one Irish farm scheme specifically cited by the country’s authorities. As trade tensions increase between the EU and China, the ministry said that it received an application for an anti-subsidy investigation from the Dairy Association of China and the China Dairy Industry Association on behalf of China’s domestic dairy industry. The basis for the investigation is that certain subsidised EU dairy products impact on China’s domestic dairy industry. That application claimed that certain EU dairy products received subsidies from the EU and its member governments, and that the EU dairy industry “may benefit from a total of 20 subsidy projects”. The ministry concluded that the application contains the relevant evidence required for the filing of an anti-subsidy investigation. “The Ministry of Commerce has decided to initiate an anti-subsidy investigation on imports of ...