BEIJING - Sluggish economic growth, instead of global trade, should be blamed for the European Union's steel woes and protectionism is not a solution, China's commerce ministry said Wednesday.

China is concerned about the EU's trade remedy practices taken against Chinese steel products, which account for less than 5 percent of the EU steel market share, said Shen Danyang, spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), at a press conference.

The European Commission on Aug 4 decided to impose duties ranging from 19.7 to 22.1 percent on cold rolled steel products imported from China, the second bout of anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel products in that week.

The EU should avoid abusing trade remedy measures and be aware of the message it is sending with its behavior, according to Shen.

China and EU members have benefited from steel trade as China imports a considerable amount of steel products from the EU annually while China's steel exports to the EU helped support its infrastructure development, Shen pointed out.

The Group of 20 (G20) trade ministers reached a consensus against trade protectionism at a meeting in Shanghai last month.

Protectionism and other practices that stem fair market competition are not the right path for the EU steel sector and all involved parties should ease trade frictions via more exchange and cooperation, Shen added.