China launched an anti-dumping investigation on Friday into the import of certain alloy-steel seamless tubes and pipes for high temperature and pressure service from the European Union, the United States and Japan, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

The probe, initiated following complaints from domestic producers, is expected to finish before May 10, 2014 but is subject to extension to November 10, 2014, the ministry said.

The imports are mainly used for producing supercritical pressure and ultra supercritical pressure boilers.

The European Union is moving closer to imposing punitive tariffs ranging from 37.3 percent to 67.9 percent on China-made solar panels.