BEIJING, July 23 -- The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday began looking into dumping allegations for grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel imported from Japan, the Republic of Korea and the European Union (EU).

The MOC will try to determine whether the imports have damaged or affected domestic producers' interests, the ministry said in a statement.

The investigation started on July 23, the statement said.

Grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel is widely used in manufacturing voltage transformers, commutators, reactors and large motors.