China has officially imposed additional tariffs of up to 11.7% on EU cream and cheese exports after concluding an anti-dumping investigation.
EU exporters including FrieslandCampina, Elvir and Sterilgarda initially faced up to 42.7% additional duties, but this was reduced to between 7.4% and 11.7% in recent weeks after the European Commission held talks with Beijing. A further breakthrough was not achieved, however.
The new tariffs – to be applied on top of existing customs duties of about 8% on cream and 15% on cheese – will be in place from February 13, 2026 and is set to stay in place until 2031.
The EU is a major supplier of cream and cheese to China, exporting around 30,000 tonnes of cheese and 100,000 tonnes of cream per year.
Why China imposed the tariffs
Beijing sought to impose tariffs on some EU dairy products, specifically cheese and high-fat milk and cream, after concluding EU imports negatively impacted its domestic market.
Levies of between 21.9% and 42.7% were announced in December 2025 and then revised down in February 2026 to between 7.4% and 11.7% following negotiations between the European Commission and Beijing.
A further breakthrough would have hinged on China agreeing with the EU’s technical assessment and calculations to support even lower levies.
China’s commerce ministry views the EU’s raw milk pricing system as ‘seriously distorted’, which turned into a major sticking point as Beijing used a ‘fair market’ milk price (comprising the average raw milk prices of Switzerland and Norway, instead of the EU’s own price) to produce the new tariff rates back in December.
But the EU’s further technical assessment and calculation-based arguments shared in recent weeks were not taken into account in the final determination of the rule: leaving most EU dairy exports of cream and cheese exposed to new tariff headwinds.
What tariffs are companies facing
Most exporters of specific classes of cream and cheese products are facing an additional levy of 11.7%.
Some companies that co-operated closely with the Chinese ministry during the probe have lower tariffs. These range between 7.4% and 11.7% and apply to around 50 companies.
Would EU dairy exports be hit?
According to the European Dairy Association, the new tariff regime would significantly curb cream and cheese exports from the bloc and reduce EU dairy’s competitiveness, particularly against regional players from Australia and New Zealand who have free trade agreements in place with China.
The extent of that is yet to be felt, but even before the additional tariffs were touted, the EU had started to diversify its exports in the region.
New Chinese tariffs could result in even more product routed elsewhere, potentially accelerating growth in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia.
In recent years, Singapore has become increasingly important for premium European cheese exports such as Cheddar, with Malaysia, Vietnam also key.
There’s healthy and growing appetite for EU cheese in Japan and South Korea, and talks over a free trade agreement are advancing with Thailand, where the EU is keen to expand its agri-food presence.
What are the EU’s major cheese and cream markets?
The EU ships most cheese to a handful of major markets while cream exports are also routed to several Gulf states.
Based on Eurostat export data covering the period of January to September 2025, the UK remains the EU’s single biggest cheese customer, followed by the US, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and China.
For cream or high-fat dairy, the US takes the top spot followed by the UK, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
