A spokesperson from the Commission’s trade directorate general told GlobalMeatNews that contested EU changes to its duty regime were in "strict compliance with WTO rules".
Beijing is upset that its poultry exporters were not given additional market access to the EU when the Commission negotiated additional import quotas for exporters from Brazil and Thailand, which were agreed in 2012.
Under WTO rules, explained a Geneva diplomat, when tariff concessions are modified, major rival suppliers needed to be compensated with additional market access too. But in this case, no extra quotas were offered to Chinese exporters, and the government was unhappy.
The country’s state news agency said the "treaty dented the interests of Chinese poultry meat exporters and failed to ease concerns after China’s repeated calls for proper settlement", quoting Sun Jiwen, spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Looking at the detail of the case, the 2012 deal allocated 96% of the available new quotas to Brazil and Thailand and 4% to China and rest of the world. The deal took effect in March 2013.
The Geneva diplomat added that China was not happy with the fact "it was not recognised as a major supplier of poultry products to the EU and that it was not compensated", adding: "The first round of consultation is likely to take place in May." This is the first step of a WTO dispute. If Brussels and Beijing fail to resolve the issue, China is likely to ask for a ruling by the WTO dispute settlement body.
Geneva diplomats said the EU might argue it was unable to negotiate additional access for China, because it missed a deadline for claiming these rights under WTO rules.
Meanwhile, the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU Countries (AVEC) general secretary Cees Vermeeren stressed to GlobalMeatNews that the EU imports more poultry products than it exports by value, although not in volume. The EU’s poultry product imports stood at €2.1 billion in 2014, exporting slightly less. For volume, the EU produced 13.2 million tonnes of poultry meat in 2014, importing 830,000 tonnes and exporting 1.4 million tonnes.
EU trade data showed the EU imported high-value poultry products mainly from Brazil – almost 60% of total EU poultry meat imports, while Thailand accounted for 30% of poultry breasts and other high value-added products, such as cooked preparations.