China's Ministry of Commerce ruled Wednesday broiler chicken products imports from the United States were subsidized, and as a result would be levied from 3.8 to 31.4 percent in anti-subsidy duties.

China started anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into the U.S.chicken products imports last September.

U.S. companies exporting broiler chicken products which had provided information to the Chinese investigation would face duties of 3.8 to 11.2 percent, while those that had not responded to probes would be subject to a 31.4 percent tariff, said the ministry in an online statement.

The investigation results showed the U.S. broiler chicken exporters had received government subsidies, which had caused substantial losses to Chinese companies, according to the statement.

The Chinese importers should start to submit deposits to the customs authorities from April 30, and the amount of the deposits would be set according to the duties rate, said the ministry.

A broiler is a type of chicken raised specifically for meat production. The United States is the largest chicken products exporter to China, comprising 90 percent of the 407,000 tonnes of chicken China imported in the first half of 2009.