BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) announced on Friday that it has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of two steel products from China in what it calls "a swift reaction to unfair competition."

According to a Friday statement by the European Commission, or the EU executive body, the Commission made the decision after its investigations confirmed that the Chinese products had been sold in Europe "at heavily dumped prices."

The Commission decided to impose duties ranging between 65.1 percent and 73.7 percent for heavy plates and 13.2 percent and 22.6 percent for hot-rolled steel from China.

Moreover, the Commission said it will decide within the coming six months whether to reconfirm these measures for the period of the coming few years.

The EU measures came just weeks after Shen Danyang, spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, at an Aug 17 press conference expressed China's concern about the EU's trade remedy practices taken against Chinese steel products.

Noting that Chinese steel products account for less than 5 percent of the EU steel market share, Shen said that sluggish economic growth, instead of global trade, should be blamed for the EU's steel woes and that protectionism is not a solution.

The EU should avoid abusing trade remedy measures, the Chinese spokesman said. He added that protectionism and other practices that stem fair market competition are not the right path for the EU steel sector and all involved parties should ease trade frictions via more exchange and cooperation.