By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter

China is stepping up anti-dumping pressure on imports of Korean chemical products, a state-run trade agency said Tuesday.

Nine major Chinese nonferrous metal makers have lodged an appeal calling for China's Ministry of Commerce, to investigate shipments of sulphuric acid from Korea and Japan, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).

The Chinese companies produce the chemical as a byproduct, but are worried over dumping ― or predatory price fixing. They say that sulphuric acid from Korea and Japan is under-priced, compromising the market order and putting them at a disadvantage in terms of price competitiveness.

China imported 1.14 million tons of the acid in the first four months of this year, up 68.3 percent from last year, with over 97 percent coming from Korea and Japan. The companies claim that their sales tallied at only 883 tons, a 99.4-percent drop year-on-year.

Last year, Korea exported a million tons of sulphuric acid to China, around 45.5 percent of all its exports of the chemical.

This year the Chinese government has been looking into Korean chemical exports.

It notified Seoul in January of an anti-dumping probe on six petrochemical firms over exports of terephthalic acid, which is used in clothing and plastic bottles. Last month, Beijing announced it would look into imported cyclic dimethyl siloxane, a raw material for silicone gel and other products that come from Korea and Thailand.

Since its first anti-dumping action against Korean newsprint in 1997, China has slapped a total of 21 anti-dumping measures on Korean products, with three still under investigation.

KOTRA predicted China is likely to strengthen its regulations on chemical product imports.

``Chemicals are one of Korea's main exports and China is expected to take steps in order to bring competitiveness to its domestic products,'' a KOTRA official said.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr