Deutsche Welle, 5 June 2013
A day after
the European Union announced levies against solar panels imported from China,
China has announced a price dumping investigation into wine imported from the
EU – adding a new layer to a trade spat.
China's
Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday that it was starting an
investigation against wine imported from the European Union to check if prices
are undercutting domestic markets.
"The
Chinese government has initiated an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation
procedure into wines from the European Union," said Shen Danyang, a
spokesperson for the commerce ministry, in a statement.
There were
few details about the wine probe other than the fact that the commerce ministry
"firmly opposes" the EU's levies against solar panels.
On Tuesday,
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said that an average levy of 11.8 percent
would be applied on solar panels from June 6, with the levy rising to 47.6
percent on August 6, unless a solution could be agreed.
The EU
accuses China of subsidizing the solar products, the European Commission
claiming that panels were being sold at 88 percent below cost price. The
industry association EU ProSun says China now holds about 80 percent of the EU
market, with European companies having suffered in the face of the cheaper
Chinese imports.
The
introduction of tariffs is not supported by all EU members, with Germany - the
bloc's biggest player in the solar sector - among the skeptics.
France was
in favor of the levies on solar panels. Chinese customs figures show that
France is the single largest wine-supplying nation to China.
mz/kms (dpa, AFP)
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