Beijing, Feb 15 (IANS): China on Friday imposed anti-dumping duties on chicken imports from Brazil but exempted 14 firms in exchange for a price undertaking, said the Commerce Ministry on Friday.

The tariffs - ranging from 17.8 per cent to 32.4 per cent - will come into effect on February 17 and will be in place for five years, the Ministry was cited as saying by Efe news.

It added that the tariffs were introduced to protect domestic producers from unfair competition from Brazilian firms.

The Ministry reached the decision to exempt the 14 firms after months of negotiations with Brazilian chicken producers and after the firms offered an acceptable "price undertaking".

The Ministry said that it exempted the firms from the tariffs on condition they export to China at prices not below the set minimum prices.

Brazilian chicken imports are the largest source of frozen chicken meat in China and constitute more than 50 per cent of the chicken consumed in the country.

The new measure was announced after an anti-dumping investigation on chicken from Brazil was launched, following reports that it had caused substantial damage to domestic suppliers.

The investigation began in August 2017 and preliminary results were announced on June 8, 2018.

The investigation had recommended placing duties of between 18.8 per cent and 38.4 per cent on all of China's imports of Brazilian broiler chicken.

The final tariffs were announced only after additional investigation was conducted by the authorities.

China, the world's second largest producer and consumer of chicken, had fully opened its market to chicken from Brazil in 2008 after intense negotiations.

The country which had imposed health restrictions on the Brazilian product, already imported non-processed chicken from Brazil, but it came through Hong Kong.

The measure against Brazilian chicken imports come after Chinese poultry prices had reached a record high late last year.