CHINA will impose temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of Brazilian chicken meat, it said Friday.

Chinese importers of Brazilian chicken will be required to pay deposits ranging from 18.8 percent to 38.4 percent of the value of their shipments from yesterday, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

A preliminary ruling from the ministry found that Chinese producers had been “substantially damaged” by shipments from Brazil between 2013 and 2016, when the country supplied more than half of China’s imports of chicken meat.

The anti-dumping measures are another blow to Brazilian meatpackers, who are still recovering from a food safety scandal last year and a May truckers’ protest that forced farms to cull some 70 million chickens due to a lack of feed.

About 9 percent of Brazil’s chicken exports went to China last year, according to Brazilian protein industry group ABPA, which said the flows were likely to be maintained due to strong Chinese demand.

The measure comes one year after China had implemented anti-dumping measures against another leading Brazilian commodity. In May last year the Chinese Government imposed hefty penalties on sugar imports.

(SD-Agencies)