China’s commerce ministry will use samples collected from FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands and Belgium, Elvir in France and Sterilgarda Almenti in Italy to progress its anti-subsidy investigation into EU dairy imports.

The ministry said those companies were selected based on export volume and product structure.

The announcement came days after the EU voted in favour of the implementation of import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

The Netherlands, France and Italy all voted for the measure.

While Ireland also backed the imposition of tariffs, there are no Irish exporters on the sample list from the Ministry of Commerce.

Germany, a significant dairy exporter to China, voted against the EU tariff measure and also has none of its exporters on the list. The EU is the second largest supplier of dairy products to China, behind New Zealand, with sales worth €1.7bn in 2023.

In an unusual move, the EU has initiated a dispute complaint against China at the World Trade Organisation – the governing body for international trade deals – following the launch of China’s dairy probe.

This is the first time the EU has taken such an action at the start of an investigation, as the bloc would normally wait for trade measures to be introduced before launching a complaint.

The commission said that the action was prompted by “an emerging pattern of China initiating trade defence measures based on questionable allegations and insufficient evidence”.

As well as dairy, China is also conducting an investigation into imports of pigmeat products from the EU. In the aftermath of the EU vote the country imposed tariffs on imports of brandy from the EU – a measure which mostly targets France which accounts for 99% of brandy exports to China.