May 17/Beijing/Agence France-Presse -- China said it would levy anti-subsidy duties of up to 11.19% on imports of EU potato starch, in apparent retaliation over Brussels’ decision to slap taxes on Chinese fine art paper.

The commerce ministry said that importers of potato starch will have to pay a deposit from Thursday based on the alleged EU subsidy rates of 7.7-11.19% of the import price.

French starch producer Roquette and AVEBE of the Netherlands are among the companies affected by the decision, the statement said.

The taxes are to be imposed on top of anti-dumping duties of 12.6-56.7%, which the ministry started to levy from last month.

On Saturday, the European Commission announced its final ruling to impose countervailing tariffs, ranging from 4-12%, and anti-dumping duties of 8-35.1% on Chinese coated fine paper.

The move “severely hurt the interests of Chinese enterprises,” Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian said.

“China is strongly discontent with the EU’s wrong decision and firmly opposes it.”

“China... reserves the right to take relevant actions according to the law to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” he said.

 

From the May 17, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News.