(Yicai Global) July 23 -- China will start an anti-dumping check of imports of stainless steel billets and hot-rolled stainless steel plate coils from the EU, Japan, Korea and Indonesia, its commerce ministry announced today.

An anti-dumping investigation petition Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel submitted on behalf of China's stainless steel billet and hot-rolled stainless steel plate coil sector prompted the probe, the country's Ministry of Commerce said.

The total output of the petitioner and firms supporting it made up over 50 percent of the total of similar products manufactured in China in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, per rules allowing an industry to apply, based on the evidence and its initial review, MOFCOM said.

The investigation will run from today and end before next July 23 as a matter of routine, the ministry indicated, though in special cases this customary one-year period may be extended for six months.

The announcement comes on the heels of MOFCOM's preliminary finding of dumping of imports of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber from South Korea and Japan on July 16. 

Editor: Ben Armour