Irish dairy farmers cannot become the “fall guys” in a looming trade dispute between China and the European Union (EU), a farm organisation warned today (Thursday, August 22).
China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed earlier this week that it has launched an anti-subsidy investigation into dairy products imported from Europe.
The Chinese ministry has confirmed it will examine 20 EU subsidy schemes in eight member states including Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland and Italy.
The Chinese investigation was announced in the same week that the European Commission confirmed that as part of its ongoing anti-subsidy investigation it had agreed “a draft decision to impose definitive countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China”.
Dairy farmers
Today the president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) warned that it is critical that farmers in Ireland did not get dragged into any escalation of the trade row by default.
Francie Gorman said: “It is absolutely critical that the EU ensure that Irish dairy farmers are not the fall guys in any trade dispute with China.
“Irish dairy farmers already suffered from trade tariffs in 2019 following the EU/US trade dispute. That outcome has to be avoided this time around.”
The IFA said that figures from Bord Bia suggest Irish dairy exports to China in 2023 were valued in the region of €420 million and accounted for 7% of total global dairy exports.
The farm organisation believes these figures underline the importance of China as an export market for Irish produce.
Gorman added: “Dairy farmers have put down an incredibly difficult 12 months. International dairy markets are now performing well which has driven a recent, and much-needed, lift in milk price.
“Minister McConalogue is leading a trade mission to China at the end of the month. It is critical that he uses this opportunity to assure Chinese officials that our dairy products are not in breach of WTO rules and should not be unfairly treated from a tariff perspective.”
The IFA is not the only farm organisation to highlight its concerns about the fallout of any trade dispute between the EU and China on farmers here.
The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Denis Drennan has also warned that Irish dairy products “might end up as a collateral damage in a trade war that is most assuredly not of their making”.