China said the U.S. should deal "cautiously" with the anti-dumping complaint from U.S. steel makers that China dumped specific types of tubular and pipe steel into the U.S. market.

Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian made the remark at a news conference Wednesday, saying the U.S. should resist protectionism as the government promised in the G20 summit in London.

On April 8, U.S. steel makers filed an anti-dumping suit to the U.S. trade bodies for investigation on welded and seamless steel pipes known as oil country tubular goods (OCTG), which are used in oil and gas drilling.

Yao said in the first quarter, the volume of Chinese steel exports to the U.S. fell 55 percent from a year ago.

China was highly concerned about the suit and would send a delegation to the U.S. to discuss the matter, he said.

Yao noted China will keep watching the progress of the case.

Other countries have also further restricted importing the products from China. Last week, China protested at the European Union's (EU) decision on April 8 to impose anti-dumping duties on seamless steel pipe imported from China after an investigation that began in July last year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2009)