China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Monday that the Chinese government is shocked and "gravely concerned" about the frequency and direction with which US probe into Chinese steel products.

The Chinese steel industry is strongly dissatisfied with the situation, said the statement.

Such practice is sending wrong signals of trade protectionism to the US domestic market and the international society, and could seriously affect the interest of downstream part of the US steel industry, while damaging the normal steel trade between the two countries, said the statement.

If anti-dumping duties are put upon exported steel products from China, prices would be pushed up, and US downstream manufacturers would have to buy more expensive steel products.

China will closely watch the ongoing investigations and preserve the rights of appealing the cases to the World Trade organization (WTO), said the statement.