No action at the meeting of EU managers representing the cognac and brandy sector (led by the French Remy Remy Cointreau, Pernod Ricard and LVMH) and the Chinese government. The meeting that took place last week, did not give some site: Beijing has not given an official deadline for a decision on the outcome of its anti-dumping investigation into EU brandy.

At the end of the meeting Luca Marotta, cfo of Remy Cointreau in a phone call with analysts to comment on the first quarter data, which was not very good also because of the Apac countries, confirmed that "the Chinese ministry of Commerce, after the hearing, did not give any official communication regarding the timing of its decision after the hearing". 

Regarding the strategies that the French group might decide to adopt to mitigate the impact of potential Chinese tariffs on liqueurs, Marotta said he "remains calm" and it goes on as if nothing had happened at the moment. "So far -said Marotta- the survey has not influenced consumer tastes or the essence of the business, so we are not changing the operation to try to anticipate, or compensate, in an extraordinary way, for the impact".

On the other hand, according to representatives of the sector including the cfo of Remy Cointreau, the Chinese investigation would be wider, and not only in the liqueur sector, They showed optimism after the meeting, if only because the meeting coincided with the first chance to defend themselves "live" against the charges.

China announced last January a survey to see if EU brandy producers sell their product in China at prices below market. The EU Commission has then decided to launch a joint action on environmental protection, public health and consumer protection: It is no coincidence that some EU officials were also present at the Beijing meeting.