China says it will open an anti-dumping investigation into imported pork from the European Union.

China's commerce ministry said the probe targeting pork and its by-products from the EU will start on Monday. It said it received a complaint from a livestock industry organization that prices of EU pork products are kept unfairly low.

Officials said the probe will last one year, during which they will investigate issues such as how low the prices are kept and whether the domestic industry is affected.

Additional tariffs could be imposed on such products, depending on the results of the investigation.

On Wednesday last week, the EU announced a plan to temporarily impose additional duties of up to 38.1 percent on Chinese electric vehicles. The EU said China-made EVs could cause European companies to suffer losses.

Beijing reacted sharply to the EU plan and hinted at taking countermeasures. The probe into European pork appears to be aimed at warning the EU.