US decides to levy punitive duties on China's calcium hypochlorite

The U.S. trade authority ruled Thursday that a U.S. industry is "injured" by imports of Chinese calcium hypochlorite, which means the U.S. government will impose punitive duties on the products.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) complained that imports of calcium hypochlorite from China are subsidized and sold in the United States at less than fair value.

As a result of the commission's affirmative determinations, the U.S. Commerce Department will issue anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on imports of this product from China.

The anti-dumping duty rate is 210.52 percent and the countervailing duty rate is 65.85 percent, according to the department's final determination in December 2014.

The Commerce Department launched the anti-dumping and countervailing duties probes over Chinese calcium hypochlorite products in January 2014 at the request of Arch Chemicals based in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Calcium hypochlorite is often used in the chlorination of water in residential and commercial swimming pools. Imports of these products from China were estimated at 8.1 million U.S. dollars in 2013, according to U.S. official data.

Beijing has repeatedly urged Washington to abide by its commitment against protectionism and work with China to maintain a free, open and just trade environment.