China not abusing antitrust law -US trade official

BEIJING, July 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. trade official said on Monday China had not unfairly used a new anti-monopoly law to block a planned Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) acquisition but said it was too early to draw conclusions about the law's use.

William E. Kovacic, a senior commissioner from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said information he was given during a trip to China had reassured him officials stuck to professional standards when assessing Coca-Cola's (KO.N) planned $2.4 billion acquisition of top Chinese juice maker Huiyuan Juice (1886.HK) in March.

"I would have a high degree of confidence that the reasons for their analysis are based on their neutral assessment of competitive effects," he told journalists in the Chinese capital.

Many bankers and lawyers have expressed doubts that China acted fairly in the deal, the first case since Beijing put in place its anti-monopoly law in July 2008.

Huiyuan controls more than a tenth of a Chinese fruit and vegetable juice market that grew 15 percent last year to $2 billion. Coca-Cola has a 9.7 percent market share and dominates around half of the Chinese carbonated beverages market.

China is also Coke's fourth-largest market and a key battleground with rival PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N).

However, Kovacic said it was still too early to draw firm conclusions about whether China might use the law to ward off acquisitive foreign companies and protect domestic firms.

"I would say that the point at which I want to make an assessment about how well the new institutions (are) ... operating is probably after a couple of years," he said.

"I would be hesitant to attach an enormous amount of significance to early measures because I think you want to see a larger set of events before you draw significant conclusions."

China has itself been snubbed in overseas acquisitions, most notably in 2005 when U.S. political opposition blocked CNOOC Ltd's (0883.HK)(CEO.N) $18.5 billion bid for oil company Unocal.

Kovacic said that when assessing Chinese investment in the United States, his office would focus on examining competitive effects, rather than the ownership structure of the acquirer. (Reporting by Eadie Chen and Tom Miles, editing by Will Waterman)