China launched an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork and pig by-products imported from the European Union (EU) on Monday, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The move came in response to an application submitted by the China Animal Agriculture Association on behalf of the domestic industry.

The probe targets related EU products from Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023.

It will also investigate any damage to related Chinese industries from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2023.

The EU is the world's largest pork exporter while China is the world's largest consumer market and the EU's largest pork export destination.

According to official data, from 2020 to 2023, China's annual average proportion of pork and pig by-products imported from the EU accounted for 54 percent of the country’s total imports of similar products.

In 2023, China imported 1.336 million metric tons of such products from the EU.