The EU is lobbying China to exclude agriculture from a series of escalating commercial disputes, calling for the “strategic sector” to be protected from trade tensions in the renewable energy and electric vehicle industries.
“My intention is to do everything which is possible to avoid the situation that agriculture is a victim of the problems in other sectors,” Financial Times quoted EU agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski as saying in an interview during a visit to Beijing late last month.
Wojciechowski added that he told “Chinese partners” that “we should treat agriculture as a sector which requires special protection.” “Our agrifood exports to China are important?.?.?.?and it is problematic if our sector pays the price for disputes concerning other sectors,” a spokesperson for the EU agricultural lobby group Copa Cogeca said.
Copa Cogeca pointed to the experience of Australia, where agricultural exports to China, previously its biggest export market, have been subjected to sanctions over politi
cal disputes.
The EU is Chinas second-largest trading partner, but tensions have been rising over Brussels accusations that Beijing is fuelling industrial overcapacity to boost disappointing economic growth, raising fears of dumping in European markets.
Brussels has also objected to a growing Chinese goods trade surplus, which stood at 291 billion euros in 2023, down from a record of nearly 400 billion euros a year earlier but well above the levels of the previous decade.
Agrifoods, however, is one area where the EU ran a surplus, Wojciechowski said. The blocs agrifood exports to China were worth 14.6 billion euros, down almost 8 per cent from 2022 while imports from China to the EU fell 15 per cent to 8.3 billion euros.
Wojciechowski said Chinese officials did not send any signals they would “penalise” agricultural trade during his trip. Chinas President Xi Jinping has in the past identified food supply as crucial to national security.
But the volume of EU agrifood exports to China remains far behind 20
20-2022 levels, partly due to lower shipments of pork and dairy products, which were affected by higher energy costs.
“There is also space for improvement,” Wojciechowski said of the trade balance, noting that Chinese consumers spent about 10 euros per head annually on EU agrifood products, just half of the 20 euros per head spent by Europeans for Chinese agrifood goods.
Xi Jinping was scheduled to begin his first visit to Europe in five years on Sunday, a trip that will take in France, Serbia and Hungary.
Source: Qatar News Agency