China welcomes the decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to rule in China's favor over a controversial zeroing measure imposed by the United States against Chinese frozen shrimp and diamond saw blades, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday.

The remarks came after the WTO ruled on June 8 that the U.S. had violated WTO trade rules in using its controversial "zeroing" method to impose anti-dumping tariffs on warm-water shrimp and diamond saw blades imported from China.

MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said the U.S. should observe the WTO ruling and correct its wrongdoings as soon as possible.

Shen urged the U.S. to take action to ensure the fair treatment of China's export enterprises and maintain the two countries' normal trade activities.

According to WTO rules, anti-dumping margins should be calculated upon differences between export prices and normal domestic prices, but the U.S. adopted the zeroing practice to wipe out the difference whenever export prices were higher than domestic prices, which artificially lifted the dumping margins.

Using the zeroing method, the U.S. decided to slap anti-dumping duties of up to 112.81 percent on Chinese shrimp. It imposed further anti-dumping duties on Chinese diamond saw blades in November 2009.

The moves prompted China to request consultations with the WTO under the dispute settlement system last year.

The case marked the biggest anti-dumping disputes in China's farm produce sector, as China's frozen shrimp exports to the U.S. reached 380 million U.S. dollars in 2003.

Following the rulings, the U.S. is supposed to correct its practices to conform with WTO rules within eight months after the release of the panel report, an MOC official said.

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