China yesterday formally launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into chicken parts imports from the US, two days after US lawmakers agreed to end a gag order that prevented the US from even considering importing Chinese cooked poultry.
China had said it would investigate chicken wings and feet, as well as automotive imports from the US, immediately after the administration of US President Barack Obama decided to impose hefty “safeguard” duties on Chinese-made tires.
“The Ministry of Commerce believes that this case meets the legal conditions and has decided to conduct an investigation of unfair trade practices like dumping and subsidizing of US chicken products,” the ministry said, adding that the case had been requested by Chinese chicken producers. “The case will be decided according to law and facts.”
The tire case marks the first time the US has used a “safeguard” provision against a surge of Chinese imports, a clause China agreed to when it joined the WTO. The duties took effect on Saturday, immediately after the conclusion of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
The Ministry of Commerce statement came after Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) visited the US to attend a summit of the G20 leaders, along with Obama. While Hu was at the summit, Chinese officials played down trade disputes with the US, saying they were focused on long term relations.
The US poultry industry had used the threat of the Chinese investigation, and curbs on wing and feet imports, to lobby for an end to a Congressional prohibition against the US Department of Agriculture moving ahead on certifying Chinese plants to export cooked poultry to the US.
China has already brought a WTO case against the ban.
On Friday, US lawmakers agreed to remove the ban from the USDA funding bill, but restated that poultry processed in China must live up to US sanitary conditions before being shipped.
The author of the ban, Representative Rosa DeLauro, had expressed concern for the safety of US consumers, after a series of food safety scandals in China.
The ban was renewed last year after a scandal in which melamine, a plastic component introduced into milk to cheat protein tests, killed at least six Chinese babies and affected about 300,000 who had drunk tainted milk formula.
Chicken wings and feet are virtually worthless in the US, where they sell for about US$0.02 per pound (454g), but are a delicacy in China where they fetch US$0.40 per pound.
Imports from the US are equal to about half of the total output of Chinese poultry producers, and rose to more than 60 percent of Chinese production in the first half of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said, citing figures from the Chinese Animal Agricultural Association.
The case joins a number of anti-dumping cases being conducted by both sides, including a Chinese investigation of US-made silicon steel and US investigations of a number of Chinese steel products.
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