BEIJING - China will prolong its anti-dumping probe into imports of photographic paper from the European Union (EU), the United States and Japan for three months, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Friday.

The probe then will end on March 23, 2012, three months after the previous deadline of Dec 23, 2011, said a statement on the MOC website.

The MOC has decided to prolong the investigation because the case was relatively "special and complicated," the statement said.

The MOC launched an anti-dumping investigation into photographic paper imported from the EU, the United States and Japan on December 23, 2010, after receiving an application from domestic photographic paper companies.