Initiations of new anti-dumping probes from January to June were 39% higher than a year earlier, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a statement on October 20.  New measures applied also jumped by 6%.

The WTO said that its members reported starting 85 new investigations in the six-month period, while in the first half of 2007 the same number of members began 61 probes. Members reported applying 54 new measures as a result of completed anti-dumping investigations in the first half of the year, up slightly from the same period in 2007 when members put in place 51 new measures.

China was the most frequent subject of such investigations, accounting for 37 of all 85 new probes, followed by Thailand, the European Union and Indonesia.