Summary
- The European Dairy Association disputes MOFCOM’s findings that EU farm subsidies distort competition in China’s dairy market, arguing CAP measures comply with WTO rules.
- Beijing has introduced duties of 21.9%–42.7% on some EU dairy imports.
- With China recently lowering tariffs on EU pork after initial steep duties, EU dairy producers could hope for similar negotiations before the February 2026 deadline.
The European Dairy Association (EDA) has dismissed China’s claim that EU dairy imports create unfair competition for domestic producers.
The trade body, which represents EU dairy processors, also criticized Beijing’s methodology for calculating the duties: which go up to nearly 43% for some EU exporters.
Why China imposed tariffs on EU dairy
China introduced anti-dumping duties on some EU dairy imports as a result of an anti-dumping probe carried out by MOFCOM, the ministry of commerce. As part of the probe, the Chinese authorities collected evidence from EU dairy companies including FrieslandCampina, Lactalis and Arla to gauge if EU farm subsidies give EU producers an unfair advantage on China’s market.
According to MOFCOM’s official findings, subsidized EU imports negatively impacted the prices of cream and cheese. The ministry also blames China’s sluggish dairy sector performance in recent years on competition from EU dairy products.
As a result, duties of between 21.9% to 42.7% have been imposed on some EU dairy imports in the form of border deposits. Products such as unsweetened milk and cream and fresh and processed cheeses are being targeted.
But trade body EDA has rejected MOFCOM’s conclusions.
“Our own analysis shows that there is no impact of the instruments of the CAP [Common Agricultural Policy, the EU’s farm subsidies system] on the Chinese markets for cheese and cream,” said a spokesperson. “All the CAP measures cited by the Chinese authorities have been notified to and greenlighted by WTO.”
China’s way of calculating the duties – by using Switzerland and Norway’s average raw milk prices because it rejected EU’s own raw milk pricing structure as ‘seriously distorted’ – was also criticized by the trade body.
“Higher milk prices in Norway and Switzerland result from a combination of geographic constraints that are inherent to the national territory and not region-specific, small-scale farming, high labour costs, strong import protection, market regulation and consumer preferences,” said a spokesperson.
“These prices are deliberately insulated from international competition and are not intended to signal export competitiveness or confer trade advantages. These prices reflect explicit policy choices rather than undistorted market outcomes.”
MOFCOM’s investigation is set to complete on February 21, 2026, meaning that the current tariffs could still be revised.
The best-case scenario for the EU would be a resolution without duties and reinstating the previous trade regime, with the worst being the halting of EU dairy exports to China.
“EDA works closely with the competent EU Commission services, the sampled companies as well as the Chinese authorities to help clarify the dairy part of the rather complex trade relation between China and the EU today,” a spokesperson for EDA told us. “The sampled companies and the national and European authorities were fully cooperative and delivered all requested information in due time.”
Could pork deal signal a breakthrough?
The tariffs on EU dairy form part of ongoing trade tensions between China and the EU.
Following its own anti-subsidy prove, the EU slapped tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in October 2024, to which Beijing has responded by introducing import measures on EU pork, brandy and dairy.
But there have been positive signs that trade tensions could be tempered in 2026.
In December 2025, China lowered the duties on EU pork. Initial tariffs ranged from 15.6% to 62.4% but Beijing lowered these to up to 19.8% in its final ruling.
On January 12, the EU signaled that it’s ready to resolve the long-running EV imports dispute by releasing a guidance document outlining minimum import prices among other proposed measures.
But while these signs are encouraging, the outcome for dairy still hangs in the balance.
