The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has announced a final determination of its anti-dumping investigation of imports of US chicken, and will impose punitive import duties on a range of US chicken parts.

The announcement, which MOFCOM made on 26 September, comes a year after the agency launched an anti-dumping investigation in response to a petition filed by the Chinese Animal Agriculture Association.

According to a USAPEEC statement, the latest announcement imposes specific rates of additional duties for three companies whose exports to China were reviewed during in the investigation: Pilgrim's Pride, 53.4 per cent; Keystone Foods, 50.3 per cent; and Tyson Foods, 50.3 per cent. The final duty rate for the 32 other US export companies that registered in the investigation will be 51.8 per cent; the 'all-others' rate – for any exporter that did not register in the investigation – will be 105.4 per cent.

Last month, MOFCOM also issued a final determination in a countervailing duty investigation of US poultry imports and has imposed additional countervailing duties on US poultry imports on the highly questionable theory that US poultry industry benefits unfairly from US government subsidies to corn and soybeans producers.

China's decision to launch an anti-dumping case against US poultry came after the US imposed additional import duties on low-priced tyres and other products from China.

"Regrettably, our industry has become the scapegoat and is bearing the brunt of China's retaliation against the US in an unrelated trade dispute," said USAPEEC president, Jim Sumner. "It's truly unfortunate that our industry has ended up in this situation, especially because the issues that created this disaster were not of our making and are beyond our control.

"We flatly reject MOFCOM's assertion that our industry dumped or sold subsidised US chicken on the Chinese market. US chicken products were sold in China at prevailing market prices. These products are in high demand in China."

"We are especially disappointed that MOFCOM declined to accept a settlement of the case that would have been a win-win for both the US and Chinese industries," he said.

Mr Sumner also expressed the industry's appreciation for the US government's support in trying to resolve the issue. He said the industry is planning its next steps in appealing MOFCOM's unfair findings.

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