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France and China resume brandy tariff talks
France and China have resumed discussions of the duties Beijing has imposed on European brandy imports, with lobby groups hoping for an easing of tariffs.
Cognac and Armagnac representatives met with the French president this week to discuss Chinese anti-dumping taxes on EU brandy.
The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) said in a statement on Tuesday that “the Chinese investigation is not a legal problem but a political one, to which only a political response can be found”. The group has put pressure on the French government to resolve the dispute with China, which began after the EU threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese EVs — a policy which has since come into force.
Representatives of the brandy industry in France have now said that “positive developments have been noted at several meetings at government level”.
Exchanges between French and Chinese authorities in Shanghai have helped to renew the thread of dialogue, the lobby groups have said, calling these talks an “essential prelude to the emergence of a bilateral solution”.
Groups lobbying the French government to take action include, alongside the BNIC, the Bureau National Interprofessionnel de l’Armagnac (BNIA), the Fédération des Exportateurs de Vins et Spiritueux (FEVS), the Maison des Vins et Spiritueux (MVS).
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has now announced that the security deposit imposed on Cognac and Armagnac importers since 11 October could be replaced by a less complex bank guarantee.
Since October, importers of all wine-based spirits originating in the European Union (namely Cognac, Armagnac and brandies) have been told to lodge deposits for shipments coming into the country. Deposits are equivalent to the level of duty announced on 29 August, averaging 35%.
Lobby groups have seen the potential bank guarantee alternative as a “positive initial reaction”.
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