China to impose tariffs on stainless steel ingot exports

SteelOrbis Shanghai On December 26, the Chinese Finance Ministry released its latest tariff list for imports and exports effective from January 1, 2007. In order to curb the exports of commodities entailing high energy consumption and pollution, the Chinese government will continue the imposition of tariffs on the exports of coal, oil and other energy products. In addition, the government is also to add tariffs on exports of stainless steel ingots and its primary products, primary processed products of tungsten, un-forged manganese, molybdenum, stibium, chrome and other products which create serious environmental problems. However, the Chinese Finance Ministry hasn't yet published the detailed list of the tariff rates. Meanwhile, the ministry will further reduce its import tariffs on 44 commodities, in accordance with the pledges it made in the context of its WTO accession process. After the adjustment, the overall tariff level for year 2007 will decline from 9.9 percent to 9.8 percent. Meanwhile, the average tariff on agricultural products is 15.2 percent, whereas that on industrial products is 8.95 percent. Besides, there is still no news regarding the export tax rebate for steel products.