WASHINGTON - The US Commerce Department on Friday set preliminary dumping margins on imports of aluminum foil from China, which has urged Washington to abide by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in its related investigation.

The department said in a statement that Chinese exporters of aluminum foil had sold their products in US market at prices "that resulted in preliminary dumping margins of 96.81 percent to 162.24 percent."

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has urged the US authorities to implement decisions of the WTO and appellate bodies and give Chinese exporters fair counter-argument rights.

Punitive duties could be imposed after both the US Commerce Department and the US International Trade Commission (USITC) make affirmative final rulings. The Commerce Department is currently scheduled to make its final determination around Feb 23, 2018.

Improper trade measures are believed to hurt the interests of Chinese aluminum foil exporters, US downstream sectors and final consumers, leading to a lose-lose situation.

The Commerce Department launched anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into imports of aluminum foil from China in March, in response to a request from the US Aluminum Association Trade Enforcement Working Group.

Imports of aluminum foil from China were estimated at $389 million in 2016, it said.