China has imposed a tough new quality standard on imports of soyoil from Argentina, the world's No. 1 supplier, but Chinese officials have denied it is linked to Argentine anti-dumping measures on China's manufactured goods.

However, Xinhua quoted Vice-Commerce Minister Jiang Yaoping as saying pressures resulting from protectionist moves by the South American country meant Beijing, "will have no alternative other than to consider countermeasures.”

Jiang, who spoke during a visit to Buenos Aires this week, described Argentine anti-dumping measures as, "extremely abnormal" and "discriminatory" and urged the government of President Cristina Fernandez to "take a more cautious approach to dealing with trade issues," the report said.

Argentina launched 18 anti-dumping investigations on Chinese products last year on goods ranging from shoes to steel pipes. The government defends the measure as a way to protect local jobs during the global economic slowdown.

"Every anti-dumping measure is based on proof of damage to national industry," Industry Minister Debora Giorgi said in a statement on Thursday.

"In every case we have followed procedures established by the World Trade Organization where there hasn't been any formal complaint by China so far," she added.

In a sign the spat could continue to disrupt the soyoil trade, Jiang said China's imports of Argentine soyoil would not be normalized unless Argentine exporters "increase the quality and safety of the product." Argentine media have reported that China could relax tough import standards to normalize trade after asking trading companies not to import soyoil from the world's largest exporter and threatening to impose strict standards as a retaliatory measure.

Buenos Aires has assured China its exporters can meet the new import standard, which says the solvent residues used for processing soy oil should not exceed 100 parts per million, or ppm. The solvent residue level in a few shipments of soyoil imported from Argentina exceeded 1,000 ppm, Beijing has said.

The ongoing spat is causing concern among soyoil exporters in Buenos Aires and local prices have fallen in recent weeks.

Argentina exported 1.84 million tons of soyoil to China last year, bringing in $1.4 billion and accounting for 77 percent of Chinese soyoil imports.

The South American nation's trade deficit with China widened to $1.2 billion last year from $700 million a year earlier.