A villager sows highland barley seeds in the fields with agricultural machinery in Chabalang Village of Quxu County in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi)

China's recent anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules for barley imported from Australia are normal practices to safeguard the legitimate rights and security of the domestic industry, and comply with WTO trade remedy rules, a Chinese business representative said on Tuesday.

"The China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC) welcomes and supports the ruling," said Yu Jianlong, secretary general of the CCOIC. 

The Chinese barley industry has long been impacted by the unfair dumping of and subsidies on imported products, and the recent ruling on Australian barley will help regulate the country's trade practice, Yu said. "It will also facilitate the resumption of market order, protect sound development of upstream and downstream of the Chinese barley industry, and safeguard the interests of domestic farmers."

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on May 18 ruled that there was a trend of dumping of imported barely from Australia, which has hurt the domestic industry. 

China will impose a 73.6 percent anti-dumping tax and 6.9 percent anti-subsidy duties on barley imports from Australia starting May 19, according to the ministry.

In October 2018, the CCOIC represented the Chinese barley industry to file application to MOFCOM, requesting the ministry conduct anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into Australian barley imports.

The commerce ministry filed the anti-dumping case on November 19, 2018 and the anti-subsidy case on December 21, 2018, and began its investigation.

The CCOIC has conducted much related work, including collecting data from the domestic industry and barley farmers in major production bases, distributing questionnaires to Chinese producers and conducting field studies, Yu said. The chamber has also offered information about Australian polices in the agriculture industry, as well as Australian subsidy policies.

According to data collected by the CCOIC, the import volume of Australian barley increased significantly during the investigation period and there was a large tumble in price, Yu noted.

China's imports of Australian barley increased to 4.18 million tons in 2018 from 3.88 million tons in 2014, and in 2017 hit the import maximum of 6.48 million tons.

The import price of Australian barley dropped to 1.83 yuan ($0.26) per kilogram in 2018 from 2.11 yuan per kilogram in 2014, but was higher than 2017's 1.55 yuan per kilogram, according to the CCOIC.

The CCOIC found the Chinese barley industry has taken a heavy hit from import dumping and subsidies on Australian barley imports.

From 2014-18, China's barley production area decreased to 6.145 million mu (410,000 hectares) from 7.03 million mu, down 12.61 percent. Production fell to 1.71 million tons from 1.81 million tons, down 5.63 percent.

The market share of Chinese barley also dropped and was down from 25.08 percent to 20.06 percent from 2014-18. The retail price was down 7.94 percent and profits per mu fell 58.08 percent, according to the CCOIC.