China To Keep Import Tariffs Low In 2012

The State Council has confirmed that, from January 1, 2012, China’s average tariffs will remain at a low rate, to expand imports and meet consumer demand, promote more balanced foreign trading relationships, and, thereby, encourage a restructuring of the economy.

A Ministry of Finance statement said that, in fact, the Council noted that, in 2012, China’s average tariffs on the imports of over 730 goods will be 4.4%, less than half of the rate for a most favoured nation under World Trade Organization rules.

Imports that are listed with low tariffs next year include agricultural products, inputs and machinery, from wheat, cotton and frozen chickens to fertilisers and animal feed, and tractors and harvesters; raw materials, including coal, coke, oil, natural rubber, copper, aluminium and nickel; and high-end equipment, such as new-generation information technology products, new energy vehicles and mobile phones.

A further category of imports to be encouraged are those products for improving the quality of people’s consumption, including frozen fish, special infant formula milk powder and baby food; and public health-related products, including vaccines.

In addition, to expand multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation, promote the faster development of regional economic integration, low tariffs will continue for imports from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Peru, Costa Rica, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Taiwan.

China also has preferential tariffs for imports originating in some 40 least developed countries, including Laos, Sudan and the Yemen; and, to promote sustainable economic development and the saving of resources and the environment, it will maintain high export tariffs on items such as coal, oil and iron alloys.

The Minister of Commerce Chen Deming has already emphasized recently that, since the outbreak of the international financial crisis, China has instituted policies so as to expand domestic demand and stimulate imports while stabilising exports.

He noted that, between 2008 and 2010: “China’s imports soared by 23.3%, creating a trillion-dollar market for the rest of the world. At the same time, its trade surplus shrank from nearly USD300bn at its peak in 2008 to USD107.1bn as of the first three quarters of 2011, decreasing as a percentage of gross domestic product from 6.5% per cent to 2.2%.”

Chen predicted that Chinese imports will exceed USD1.7 trillion this year, and amount to roughly USD10 trillion over the next five years, on a par with its exports.

Source: Tax News