BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland will start from Wednesday imposing temporary anti-dumping measures on 1,4-butanediol (BDO) imported from Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

    In a statement on its website, the ministry said Taiwan and Saudi Arabia had dumped BDO products on the Chinese mainland.

    The ministry said the temporary measures are a result of the initial ruling of an anti-dumping investigation that began in September last year.

    The ministry said Taiwan and Saudi Abrabia's dumping had caused substantial damage to the mainland's BDO industry. Importers will have to pay a deposit when bringing the goods into the country.

    The amount of deposit paid by importers at customs would be decided by the extent of the dumping action of different producers in the two regions, said the ministry.

    The ministry did not say when, or under what circumstances, these measures would be ended.

    BDO is industrially used as a solvent and an ingredient for manufacturing some types of plastics and elastic fibers. It's widely used in the production of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, autos, and paper-making.