BEIJING - The European Union has been dumping toluene disocyanate into the Chinese market, China's Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

An eight-month investigation found imported TDI from the EU was as much as 37.7 percent below normal prices and that such dumping has hurting domestic producers, the ministry said in a preliminary ruling.

Importers of such products are required to pay anti-dumping deposits to China's customs authorities. The deposits, taking effect from Tuesday, will be charged according to the dumping margins of different producers, according to the ruling.

In March, the ministry launched an anti-dumping probe into the EU-exported TDI, a main raw material of polyurethane products. TDI is widely used in the industries of rubber surface coating, textile processing, petroleum, mining, automobiles and railway transport.