Beijing - China on Wednesday said it planned to appeal the World Trade Organization's (WTO) ruling that its export restrictions on raw materials such as zinc or bauxite were illegal.

'Firstly, we will make an appeal. Secondly, we still believe that China's procedures and China's policies do not contravene WTO rules,' Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters when asked about the ruling.

The WTO delivered its ruling on July 5 after a complaint brought by the United States, the European Union and Mexico.

The EU and US welcomed the decision, as officials in Brussels said the prices of the products in question had been kept artificially high.

EU officials expressed optimism later last month that the ruling may persuade China to change its policies rather than appeal the ruling.

The Chinese ministry earlier said it regretted the WTO decision but admitted that the Chinese export controls had a 'certain impact on domestic and international users.'
The complaint, brought in 2009, was levelled at Chinese export restrictions on nine raw materials. One of these, yellow phosphorous, was subsequently removed from the investigation.

China argued that the measures were necessary to address environmental concerns and prevent shortages of bauxite, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, zinc and coke, an industrial material derived from coal.

The materials, some of which can only be found in China, are used to produce items ranging from medicines to electronics.

The investigation, by the WTO's dispute settlement panel, did not include so-called rare earth elements, which are used in the construction of high-tech products such as mobile phones.