(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- China's Ministry of Commerce said it will implement temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the European Union.

Affected companies will be required to pay deposits ranging between 30.6 percent and 39 percent starting Oct. 11, the ministry announced yesterday.

The MOFCOM will collect deposits based on the dumping margins for each relevant company it previously released, Yicai found. Major brandy producers' various deposit rates include 30.6 percent for Martell, 39 percent for Hennessy, and 38.1 percent for Rémy Martin.

These deposits will increase import costs for affected brandy products, and if distilleries refuse to pay, importers may have to bear the cost, an importer of spirits told Yicai.

Several international liquor companies have indicated a softening demand for their brandy in China, according to their latest financial reports.

Due to the substantial inventory in China's domestic brandy market, the short-term impact of these temporary anti-dumping measures should be limited, Yang Zhenjian, dean of the WBO Wine Business Academy, said to Yicai. However, if the measures persist for an extended period, their effects on the domestic market will gradually emerge, Yang added.

In the long term, these anti-dumping measures will help domestic brandy producers expand their market share while accelerating the substitution of brandy with other imported spirits, such as whisky, according to Yang.

The MOFCOM is also considering increasing import tariffs on high-displacement fuel vehicles, a spokesperson said in a separate announcement on the same day. "China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese industries and firms."

The ministry started an anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the EU in January. On Aug. 29, it ruled that dumping existed and posed a substantial threat to the domestic brandy industry, determining the dumping margins.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev