From January 1, 2009, China adjusted its imports and exports tariffs, including the most-favored-nation tariff, annual provisional tariff, agreement tariff, preferential tariff, tax regulations and items.
In the middle of December 2008, China published information on the website of the Ministry of Commerce, showing that China will continue to fulfill its commitments of tariff concession it made when it joined in the World Trade Organization (WTO). According to that information, China will decrease the imports tariff of fresh strawberries and the other 4 kinds of commodities and tariff quota management will be continuously implemented on 7 kinds of agricultural products (wheat, corn, rice, sugar, wool, wool top and cotton) and 3 kinds of chemical fertilizers (urea, compound fertilizer and ammonium dibasic phosphate).
Of which, sliding duty will be continuously imposed on a certain amount of imported cotton beyond tariff quotas and the tariff will not change. The one-percent provisional in-quota tariff will be continuously implemented on urea, compound fertilizer and ammonium dibasic phosphate. Specific tariff and compound tariff will be continuously implemented on 55 kinds of commodities including the frozen chicken. The sliding tariff of 11 kinds of films will be increased. After this adjustment, the general tariff of China, according to the information, will keep 9.8%, of which the average tariff of agricultural products is 15.2% and the one of industrial products is 8.9%.
The Ministry of Commerce says that relatively lower provisional tariff will be implemented on 670 kinds of commodities in 2009, in order to make use of the tariff policy’s function as the economic lever, promote economic structure adjustment and shift of development pattern, enlarge the imports of advanced technology, equipments and key opponents and parts, meet the demand of domestic economic and social development, stimulate the resource-saving and environmental protection and improve people’s living standard. Those 670 kinds of commodities include energy products (coal, fuel oil and stone materials), important raw materials and key opponents and parts (ammonia, exposy resin, polaroid for LCD panel, infinite variable-speed compressor for air-conditioner and chassis for large wrecker), advanced machines for agriculture (air-jet loom, automatic winder, high horsepower tractor, large harvester) and public-hygiene-related products and some household living goods (vaccine, obstacle-free elevator and ceramics).
The Ministry of Commerce will continue to impose the alternative duty on the imported nature rubber. At the same time, in order to limit the exports of high energy consumption and high pollution products, in 2009 China will keep the provisional tariff on coke, rude oil, metal ore, iron alloy, billet and some other products. It will continue to implement special export tariff on compound fertilizers and its raw materials with lower tariff rate. In addition, seasonal tariff will be imposed on urea, ammonium tertiary phosphate and triple superphosphate. Variable levy will continue to be adopted in the low season.
Furthermore, in order to improve the bilateral and multi-lateral business cooperation and promote the regional economic development, China, according to various freedom trade contracts and the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement will implement agreement tariff which is more favorable than the most-favored-nation tariff for a part of commodities from the ten countries of the ASEAN, Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore, S. Korea, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
With the improvement of the business relationship between Mainland and Hong Kong and Macau, China will continue to impose zero duty on the commodities for which the preferential origin standard has been formulated. It will also implement the preferential tariff on a part of commodities from the Laos, Sudan, Yemen and other 38 least developed countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.
In order to implement the policies about taxation and industries and meet the demand of improving science and technology and imports and exports management, China will make some adjustments to a part of tax items of the tax regulations of exports and imports on the basis of conforming to the principle of the tax regulations made by the World Customs Organization. The total number of the tax regulations and items of imports and exports will increase from 7758 in 2008 to 7868 in 2009.
