China has decided to levy five-year anti-dumping duties starting from Friday on hydrazine hydrate imports from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States and France, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday.

In June 2005, the ministry levied anti-dumping duties ranging from 28 percent to 184 percent on hydrazine hydrate imports from the four countries for five years, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

Last April, China's hydrazine hydrate producers filed an application for a reexamination of the anti-dumping measures imposed in 2005 to extend the levy.

The findings of the final judicial review launched by the ministry last June showed that the dumping would continue and the domestic hydrazine hydrate industry would be harmed if the anti-dumping measures are scrapped.

Hydrazine hydrate is a raw chemical widely used in the production of pesticides, medicines, intermediates, dyestuffs, rocket fuel and explosives.