BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday the beginning of anti-dumping and countervailing investigations into imports of solar-grade polysilicon, a material used in solar equipment manufacturing, from the United States, the Republic of Korea and the European Union.

The ministry will deliver a final ruling after the probes, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The investigation into imports from the EU will be finished before Nov 1, 2013 but may be extended for another six months under special circumstances, according to an earlier statement from the ministry.

The probe was made in response to requests filed by Chinese polysilicon manufacturers, including LDK Solar Co Ltd and the China Silicon Corp in September, the statement said.

The case follows an anti-dumping probe into imports of solar-grade polysilicon from the United States and the ROK launched on July 20.

The statement said the ministry will combine the two cases and make an accumulative evaluation.

Customs data showed that China imported 9,300 tons of polysilicon from the EU in the first half of 2012, an increase of 30.8 percent from a year earlier.

However, the average price for polysilicon imports during the period dropped 47.5 percent compared to the previous year, the data showed.