China has announced that it began collecting anti-dumping tax Monday on an imported chemical product, polyvinyl chloride, that were produced in the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia and China's Taiwan Province.

Importers of the chemical from those areas will have to pay an anti-dumping tax to Chinese customs at a rate set for a five-year period, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese industries filed complaints to the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) last year, and the Ministry of Commerce, which succeeded the MOFTEC, announced an initial decision last May to implement temporary anti-dumping measures.

Monday's announcement is the final verdict on the case.

A Russian company, the Joint Stock Company Sayanskchimplast, would be exempt from the tax as it signed a price agreement with the Ministry of Commerce, promising its price of the chemical will be within a certain range.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2003)