China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and the General Administration of Customs recently issued a notice on adjusting the list of commodities prohibited from the processing trade.
According to the announcement, 199 10-point commodity codes have been removed from the list of products prohibited from the processing trade in accordance with the country's industrial policy. Those products which do not belong to high-energy consumption or high-pollution categories, and products with high technical content were removed from the list.
The revised list of commodities prohibited from the processing trade shall still be implemented in accordance with the relevant provisions of Notice No. 90 of 2014 of the General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Commerce. The revised list will take effect on December 1, 2020.
Accordingly, iron products directly reduced from iron ore, stainless steel shredded scrap, alloy steel powder (excluding non-iron and steel smelting industry), billet with rectangular sections (width less than twice the thickness, carbon content less than 0.25 percent, excluding non-iron and steel smelting industry), other billet with rectangular sections, other billet with carbon content less than 0.25 percent and billet with carbon content not less than 0.25 percent will now only be subject to a ban on exports, shifting from the previous ban on both imports and exports.