China launched anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into imports of solar-grade polysilicon from the European Union, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday. Solar-grade polysilicon is one of the main materials in solar panels.

The investigations will be combined into the ongoing probes into imports of the same product from the United States and South Korea that the ministry launched on July 20, the ministry said on its website.

China's solar producers are struggling for survival after the US levied heavy duties on solar products from China in October, and the EU filed an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese solar products in September, amid a downturn in the global solar industry.