China’s largest animal feed producer, New Hope Group, called on the government to stop its antidumping investigation against exports of U.S. DDGS, a byproduct of corn-based ethanol used to substitute corn by feed mills.

“The investigation has not consulted the feed industry and only represents the interests of some ethanol producers,” Liu Yonghao, chairman of China’s largest private agricultural conglomerate New Hope, told reporters on the sidelines of the annual parliament session.

Cheap U.S. DDGS imports last year helped cut costs for feed mills and China’s investigation launched late last year has driven up domestic prices of the byproduct, said Liu, a member of the advisory body to the parliament.

China became the world’s largest importer of DDGS, or distillers’ dried grains, and imported 3.2 million tonnes in 2010. That amount equals China’s total domestic production.

Rising U.S. corn prices are making Chinese feed mills less interested in importing corn this year, said Liu. China’s corn imports rose to the highest in a decade last year because of tight domestic supply.