A release issued by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce Thursday criticized a recent arbitration ruling on Chinese shrimp imports made by the US Department of Commerce, calling it unfair for Chinese companies.

"The competitiveness of Chinese shrimp exports to the United States comes from favorable weather conditions and relatively low labor costs in China," says the release.

On Nov. 30, the US Department of Commerce published its decision on the anti-dumping dispute over Chinese shrimp exports. It said that Chinese companies are exporting shrimp products at prices lower than their fair value, with a dumping rate of 0.07-112.81 percent.

According to the arbitration, 35 Chinese exporters will pay an average of 55.23 percent anti-dumping tax, while other Chinese firms will have to pay 112.81 percent for their shrimp exports.

Some Chinese companies have complained that the US government has used prices of inappropriate substitute countries in its investigation, which has resulted in the very high anti-dumping taxes and blocked Chinese shrimp exporters from doing normal business, the release says.

"We are regretful for (the US Department of Commerce decision), hope that the US International Trade Commission would give an objective and fair final arbitration," it says.

The US commission is scheduled to make the final determination on the case by Jan. 12, 2005.