China has levied anti-dumping duties of up to 46 percent on imports of optical fibre from the United States, Japan and Korea, charging they are sold at unfairly low prices, the Commerce Ministry said.
Imports from those countries are hurting Chinese producers, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late on Wednesday.
Shipments of the fibre, used to build cable television and broadband Internet networks, from these countries are subject to duties between seven percent to 46 percent, it said. Its technical name is "dispersion unshifted single-mode optical fibre".
The ministry did not name specific suppliers, but US-based Corning Inc said on Wednesday it was one of nine global optical fibre providers cited in the action.
Corning, which disputes the dumping findings, said the ruling, if upheld, could hurt its ability to export fibre into the world's second-largest Internet market.
Some industry experts were puzzled by the dumping charge, saying foreign-made fibre optic equipment tended to be more expensive than their home-grown counterparts.
"Chinese-made fibre optics tend to be a lot cheaper, so it's hard to see how the dumping charge applies," said Anne Stevenson-Yang, manager director of the US Information Technologies Office in Beijing.
For South Korea, the duties slapped on LG Cable, Optomagic and two other companies ranged between seven to 46 percent.
About half of South Korea's optical fibre exports went to China in 2003, totalling $17.6 million.
The Korea International Trade Association said the move was the first restriction imposed by China on imports of sophisticated products as a result of investigations into imports of chemical, textile and steel products.
"It also could spread China's probe of cases for anti-dumping charges into other sectors," the association said in a statement. "The more trade volumes expand between South Korea and China, the higher the possibility of trade frictions."
The decision brought the total number of anti-dumping duties or allegations on South Korea to 19, out of the total 27 anti-dumping cases under investigation in China, it said.
A final ruling on the duties is expected around December, and individual companies involved will make efforts to lower the duties, said Bae Tae-hong, an official of the association's trade supporting department.
The dumping charge was brought to the Commerce Ministry by two Chinese optical fibre makers, one based in the central province of Hubei and another in the eastern province of Jiangsu.