China loses appeal against WTO ruling over specialty steel

China will implement the latest ruling issued by the World Trade Organization over its trade dispute with US over specialty steel, said China's Commerce Ministry, hours after the WTO barred China on Thursday from imposing duties on certain US steel exports.

The ministry said the WTO's ruling has clarified some confusion over certain clauses of the organization's anti-dumping and anti-subsidy laws, and it's only right that as a member country, it correctly applies the law in the future cases.

China comprehensively lost an appeal on Thursday against a WTO ruling in a dispute over US exports of specialist steel used in power transformers.

The case involved duties imposed by China on "grain-oriented electrical steel", which is used in the cores of high-efficiency transformers, electric motors and generators.

The steel is made by AK Steel Corp of Ohio and ATI Allegheny Ludlum of Pennsylvania.

The United States brought the steel case in September 2010 after China accused US exporters of dumping on the Chinese market and levied punitive duties on the steel imports.

China imposed the duties after Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation, China's biggest listed steel maker, commonly referred to as Baosteel, and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group complained about imports from the United States and Russia, which was not a WTO member at the time and was not involved in the case.