Ban Barter: China threatens restrictions on food imports

NEW DELHI: China, India���s biggest trading partner, has threatened to impose restrictions on imports of food products such as seafood and sesame oil from the country if New Delhi doesn���t scrap its ban on Chinese milk and milk products.

The Indian embassy in Beijing is in touch with the Chinese government on the issue, minister of state for commerce and industry Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha on Monday. China had replaced the US as New Delhi���s biggest trading partner in 2008-09.

Only recently, Beijing had locked horns with India over a partial ban on Chinese toy imports, later extended to other countries. The two sides have also been at loggerheads over import checks in the form of anti-dumping duties and safeguard duties (levies to stop import surges of identified products) slapped on Chinese goods in the past year.

Incidentally, during Chinese vice-minister for commerce Zhong Shan���s visit earlier this year, the two sides had proposed to set up a joint official panel to sort out trade-related problems.

Mr Scindia said in response to the extension of the ban on milk and milk products including chocolate and chocolate products from China till December 24, 2009, China���s quality supervision and inspection department had conveyed that it had encountered food safety problems in imported food products like seafood and sesame oil from India.

China warned that if India insisted on extending the ban on milk and milk products till the end of the year, it would also act on its concerns about the quality of imported food products from India.

India has imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese products like yarns, fabrics, nylon tyre cord, colour picture tubes and some chemicals. It is also looking at imposing safeguard duties on Chinese goods.

According to commerce department officials, with demand drying up in the slowdown-hit Western markets, China had identified India as an easy market for dumping its goods. India-China trade rose sharply to $51 billion in 2008-09 from $38 billion in the previous fiscal.