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China imposes duty on US chicken products

By Feiwen Rong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-27 07:54

Investigation shows the US subsidizes feed to its poultry

BEIJING - China will impose an anti-dumping duty as high as 105.4 percent on US broiler chicken products, effective from Sept 27, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday.

China found that the US industry dumped such products on the Chinese market, hurting domestic production, the ministry said. The tax rate will be 50.3 percent to 53.4 percent for those US producers who cooperated with the investigation and 105.4 percent for those who didn't, it said.

"The final ruling is that the there is a causal relationship between the US dumping of broiler products and the losses suffered by the Chinese industry," the ministry said in Beijing.

China said in April an initial investigation showed the US provides subsidized soybeans and corn to its poultry industry, hurting Chinese producers. On Aug 31, the government imposed five-year punitive anti-subsidy tariffs after upholding a finding that the US broiler chicken products were subsidized.

Imports by Pilgrim's Pride Corp will incur a 53.4 percent anti-dumping duty and imports by Tyson Foods Inc 50.3 percent, according to the ministry.

The anti-dumping investigation has been completed, the ministry said in its statement.

Prices of broiler products in China were below the cost of production for a long time, suppressing domestic producers' profit margins, a direct result of the large volume of cheap imports, it said.

China consumed almost 800,000 metric tons of US chicken products in 2008, valued at $722 million, according to the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council.

China buys from the US mainly chicken parts that are considered offal in Western countries, a trade that creates additional value for US producers, Li Qiang, managing director at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. said on Aug 31.

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