China, the world's leading consumer of pork, had announced duties ranging from 4.9 percent to 19.8 percent to apply from Wednesday after concluding that European pork imports were being dumped and harming its domestic industry.

The measures were part of a trade spat fuelled by what many European countries view as an unbalanced economic relationship with China.

Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told reporters in Madrid, including AFP, that Spanish pork exporters would face an average duty of 9.8 percent, below an overall average of 19 percent, which he said "is an acceptable figure".

The trade dispute erupted last summer when the EU moved towards imposing hefty tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, arguing that Beijing's subsidies were unfairly undercutting European competitors.

Beijing denied that claim and announced what were widely seen as retaliatory probes into imported European pork, brandy and dairy products. China is the top export market for Spanish pork.

Giuseppe Aloisio, director of Spanish meat industry association Anice, told AFP the measure was unfair.

"We face an unexpected outcome that punishes an exemplary industry for no reason," he said.

It was "unacceptable that our sector is used as a bargaining chip in a trade dispute -- that of electric vehicles -- that has absolutely nothing to do with us," said Aloisio.

"The geopolitical backdrop is obvious and we believe that transferring trade tensions to the food chain benefits nobody."

The measures come at a time when Spain's pork industry was already on tenterhooks over a growing outbreak of African swine fever among wild boars outside Barcelona.