China started anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations yesterday into imported chicken products from the United States, the Ministry of Commerce said.

The move was welcome news to the Chinese chicken industry, which has seen profits decline over the last three years amid rising chicken imports.

She Feng, general manager of Huadu Foodstuff, the main chicken provider for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said: "The imports are too cheap. They are eating into our profits."