BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce will impose anti-dumping measures on imported styrene monomer by requiring importers to pay a cash deposit on purchase.

The Chinese mainland's styrene monomer industry has been "substantially" damaged by the dumping of styrene monomer from the Republic of Korea and the United States, as well as from the island of Taiwan, the ministry said in its preliminary ruling following an investigation launched last year.

Starting on Tuesday, importers of the product from the above areas must place deposits with Chinese customs based on dumping margins of between 5 percent and 10.7 percent.

Styrene monomer, also called phenylethylene, is widely used to make polystyrene, which in turn is used to make plastics and foam containers.

The ministry launched investigations into the product in June 2017 after receiving complaints from domestic companies.