On June 22, China's Ministry of Finance issued an announcement stating that in order to boost international demand and adjust the structure of China's exports, following a review by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council and approval by the State Council, China is to adjust its export tariffs for certain products as of July 1. The interim export tariff (originally five percent) will be cancelled for steel wire products, and the interim export tariff for medium and small-sized section steel (eight tariff codes) will be reduced from 10 percent to five percent.
Aiming to boost steel exports, as recently as June 8 China hiked the export rebate rates for certain steel products (a total of 96 tariff codes). According to the June 8 announcement, rebate rates that used to range from zero to eight percent were adjusted to nine percent. As a result, the nine percent rebate rate is now in effect for steel products including sections, hot rolled coils, alloyed wire rod. Meanwhile, the rebate rate remained unchanged at 13 percent for cold rolled and galvanized products.