BRUSSELS - The European Commission decided on Thursday to impose anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled flat steel products from China.

The European Commission, or the European Union (EU)'s executive arm, said these products had been sold in Europe at heavily dumped prices. The new anti-dumping duties range between 18.1 percent and 35.9 percent and will be in place for an initial five years.

A Chinese Ministry of Commerce statement on Thursday quoted Wang Hejun, head of the ministry's trade remedy and investigation bureau, as saying that the EU continued the use of the unfair and unreasonable "surrogate country approach" in the investigation, which resulted in artificially-determined high anti-dumping duties for Chinese products and thus seriously undermined Chinese enterprises' interests.

Wang said the EU's conclusion lacks factual grounds, urging the EU to correct wrongdoings. He said China will take necessary measures to protect the interests of Chinese enterprises.

Hot-rolled flat steel is commonly used in construction, gas containers, cars, pressure vessels and energy pipelines.