When President Biden announced higher Section 232 tariffs on a list of Chinese goods (see WPI 14 May) anxieties were raised over possible retaliation (see WPI 10 June). Right now, the EU is on the leading edge of the tariff tit-for-tat. Yesterday, China announced its Ministry of Commerce would begin an anti-dumping (AD) investigation into pork from the EU. The period of investigation is 2023. This comes after the EU placed countervailing duties on Chinese cars of 38 percent.  The outbreak and recovery of ASF in China, along with the impact on pork demand from COVID and post-COVID’s slow recovery has made the market a bit of a roller coaster.

In 2022, imports of pork and pork offal fell by 42.8 percent as China rebuilt its hog...