"We have collected enough data, are computing the dumping margin and will announce our findings according to the Anti-dumping Regulation of the People's Republic of China," said Wang Shichun, director-general of the Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports and Exports under MOFTEC.

The Japanese-invested Sichuan Ajinomoto Co Ltd, the Hong Kong-invested Fujian Quanzhou Daquan Lysine Co Ltd and the Guangxi Guiyuan Lysine Co Ltd filed an application to MOFTEC for initiating an anti-dumping investigation of imported L-lysine monohydrochloride feed grade from the United States, South Korea and Indonesia on May 13.

MOFTEC accepted such an application and initiated the investigation on alleged dumped imports on June 19 last year.

According to China's anti-dumping regulation, MOFTEC and the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) are responsible for probing into dumping and dumping margins, injury and injury degree respectively.

MOFTEC and SETC normally make a preliminary decision in six months and end the case in 12 months or 18 months at the longest after a case is opened.

The decision has been delayed until now because the defendants have argued a lower price is in the interest of downstream industries and affected by the international price of a very close substitute product, such as corn or soybean.

The three exporters that have responded to the case, the US ADM, the South Korean BASF and the P. T. Cheil Samsung Indonesia, have argued that the anti-dumping charge is motivated by Ajinomoto's global strategy to eliminate competition and monopolize the market.

The three exporters and Japanese firm Ajinomoto are the sole foreign suppliers of lysine to China.

ADM, BASF and P.T.Cheil Samsung, with the applicants of this case, supply 88 per cent of China's total lysine, according to official statistics. The three exporters also argued that the lysine price is out of their control and mainly decided by the fluctuation of the shadow price of corn or soybean on the international market.

Some feed producers and Tianjin-based industrial experts expressed their concerns that imposition of an anti-dumping duty, if any, on lysine exports will be borne by the feed-making industry and squeeze their already thin profit margin.

It is reported that new issues coming out of this case mean Chinese investigators must take more time and think more carefully before making any decision.

MOFTEC has handled 12 anti-dumping cases since the first anti-dumping investigation, which was against newsprint from the United States, Canada and South Korea in 1997.

( February 26, 2002)