BEIJING -? China's Ministry of Commerce imposed five-year anti-dumping duties of 16.2 to 28.8 percent on photographic paper and paperboard from the United States, the European Union and Japan in a final ruling on Thursday.

The move indicated that China is warning its trading partners about the intensifying trade investigations into Chinese goods and challenges to China's export regulations, according to experts.

The anti-dumping investigation was launched in December 2010 in response to complaints by domestic producers, including Luckyfilm Co Ltd.

Under the final ruling, Kodak Ltd faces a duty of 19.4 percent, while Fujifilm Manufacturing Europe BV has a rate of 17.5 percent.

Other producers from Japan and the US face duties as high as 28.8 percent.

Li Qiang, president of Kodak China, told China Daily that "he regrets the ruling", and he said the company did not dump, because Kodak's prices for photographic paper and paperboard products are the highest in the domestic market.

Fujifilm did not comment.

Imports from the US, EU and Japan accounted for more than 99 percent of China's total imports of these products since the investigation began. The imports took up 76 percent of the domestic market in the first half of 2010, according to the ruling.

"The ruling is, to some degree, related to recent frequent trade investigations (against Chinese exporters) by the US. But it is reasonable and supported by sufficient evidence," said Song Hong, an economist from the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Sang Baichuan, dean of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics, said that "the anti-dumping ruling is in line with (World Trade Organization) rules and can serve as a warning against the abuse of trade protection measures from developed economies".

(For full story, see March 23 China Daily, page 14.)

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