China probes ‘dumping’ of cheap Brazilian chicken on market
Chinese famers say the South American country has been selling the meat unfairly below market value on the mainland
China on Friday launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Brazilian broiler chicken and products after a complaint from the domestic industry that the South American country has been selling the meat below market value.
Brazil accounted for more than 50 per cent of broiler product supplies to China, the world’s second largest poultry consumer, between 2013 and 2016, according to a preliminary review, a commerce nministry statement said on Friday.
Any move to penalise imports worth more than US$1 billion a year would be a major blow to Brazil’s meat industry following a scandal over its beef exports earlier in the year, which threatened to tarnish the country’s protein industry.
Brazil replaced the United States as the top supplier of chicken after China slapped anti-dumping duties on US broiler chicken products in 2010.
China is the biggest national consumer of Brazilian meat.
China relies on imports for its supply of white feather broiler chickens, which are favoured by fast-food chains like KFC and McDonald’s for their more rapid development and plumper meat, compared with yellow-feathered birds, which are native to China and generally sold retail.