China has made a preliminary determination that Europe is dumping pork and pork by-products into its market, causing “material injury” to the domestic industry, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

The announcement, which carries a “provisional anti-dumping measure” in the form of cash deposits, marks an escalation in China-EU trade tensions after major French cognac producers were exempted from punitive levies stemming from a separate investigation.

“Starting September 10, importers of the products under investigation shall, based on the margin determined for each company in this preliminary ruling, provide corresponding deposits,” the ministry said.

Pork producers who cooperated with the investigation were hit with a rate of deposit between 15.6 per cent and 32.7 per cent, in alignment with a margin of dumping calculated by the ministry. For those who did not cooperate, the ministry said a rate of 62.4 per cent would be levied.

A list provided by the ministry with its announcement showed Spanish producer Litera on the lower end of the range for cooperators, and Dutch group Vion on the higher end.

An official from the ministry’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau said Beijing is taking a “prudent and restrained” approach on the issue in a statement to journalists on Friday, pointing to the “cordial solution” reached between China and France on the cognac probe as an example to be followed.