EU imposes tariffs on wine and food ingredient from China
The European Union imposed six-month tariffs of as much as 34.9 percent on a wine and food ingredient from China to protect French, Italian and Spanish makers of the chemical product from cheaper imports.The‘‘anti-dumping’’ duties on tartaric acid, also used in industries including construction and pharmaceuticals, aim to counter a near doubling of China’s European market share to about 12 percent in less than two years. The duties target Chinese exporters such as Changmao Biochemical Engineering Co., which faces a 13.8 percent levy. Tartaric acid is the main acid in grapes and can also be obtained synthetically from petrochemicals. It’s used to adjust wine acidity, make bread and desserts, and flavor and preserve fruit juices, soft drinks and jams, according to the websites of Distillerie Mazzari and Legre-Mante, which also say the product is used to delay the setting of cement, make medicines such as antibiotics and clean metals. EU tartaric-acid makers including France’s Legre-Mante SA, Italy’s Distillerie Mazzari SpA and Spain’s Alcoholera Vinicola SA have suffered from ‘‘aggressively low prices’’ by Chinese exporters, the European Commission said in the Official Journal on July 30.
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