Offcial of the Ministry of Finance Answers Questions Raised by Reporters Concern

Q: 2010 Tariff adjustment keeps the consistency and stability of import and export tariff policy, meanwhile adopts some measures to further develop the effect of tariff to regulate and control China economy. Then what are these measures?

A: Currently, the overall situation of China economy has been gradually improving but still remains unstable and lots of uncertain factors especially for the development of foreign trade which is facing a serious situation. 2010 tariff adjustment adopts the following measures to further improve effect of micro-control measures and promote the stable rising in foreign trade as well as accelerate structure optimization and promote structure adjustment and the transformation of the development pattern.

Firstly, to continuously support agriculture and rural economic development and to promote agriculture growth and incomes of farmers, China imposes a relatively low import interim tariff rate on raw materials for agricultural production and mechanic equipments such as potassic fertilizer, animal feeding-stuffs, cotton-picking machine, potato and sugar beet harvester, large harvester, etc.

In order to ensure the domestic needs for fertilizer, China will continue to levy seasonal export tariff on fertilizers such as urea and phosphate of ammonia etc. It will also impose special export tariff for parts of fertilizers such as compound fertilizer.

Secondly, to encourage enterprise for self-innovation, promote new high technology industry and advanced manufacturing development, and drive the upgrade of industry structure. China implements lower import provisional tariff on the materials of electric, chemical and information products of electrode paste, PC polycarbonate in primary form, and flash component used for camera phone etc. which can't meet the domestic demand or are not qualified the technique requirements, and the important equipments and components of optical components for light communication, arc roller used in cutter, narrow range and flexible printing machine in unit type, the stamping mould of car, sludge turbine dryer, and high-horsepower engines etc. which can contribute to bring in new technology and application promotion.

Thirdly, to promote energy-saving and ecology environment protection. China imposes lower import provisional tariff on resource products of coal, spodumene, bromine and Te etc., basic raw materials of plant acid oil, equipments and components of groove solar parabolic mirrors etc. which is good to the ecology environment protection, and continues to implement export provisional tariff on resource products of crude oil, wood pulp, ferroalloy, billet, and some steel etc. with a large output and causing deep influence on environment.

Fourthly, China decides not to continue implementing lower import provisional tariff on phosphor, product oil, o-dichlorobenzene, nitrotoluene, oriented wide silicon steel plate, seamless tube boiler made by stainless steel, transmission shaft of ship, thermal print head, contact image sensor, wind power generation equipments etc. and resumes most-favored-nation tariff rate and properly raises the import provisional tariff rate on fuel oil, sublimed sulfur, sulfur, automatic bobbin winder, and copper clad used in copper foil etc. At the same time, China lowers the export provisional tariff on some fertilizers and its related raw materials.