China imposes import duties on US poultry

The Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) has announced that it will impose import tariffs of up to 105.4% on US poultry following the conclusion of an antidumping investigation, Bloomberg reported. MofCom began the investigation after the US imposed antidumping tariffs on imports of Chinese-made tires last year. China imported US$678.2 million worth of US poultry in 2009, out of total US exports worth US$4 billion; poultry is one of the few products in which the US maintains a trade surplus with China. Duties will range from 50.3% to 53.4% for US producers that cooperated with MofCom’s investigation, and 105.4% for producers that did not. "The final ruling is that there is a causal relationship between the US dumping of broiler products and the losses suffered by the Chinese industry," MofCom said in a statement.