China Adds Tariffs on Metal

On March 15, 2011, the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China announced to implement relatively low provisional tariff on 58 items of imported commodities.

Tariff rates on 26 items of resource products like coal, oil product, and alumina shall be reduced to 0%-3% from 3%-6%; meanwhile, provisional tariffs will be levied on 110 items of exported commodities, in which the tariff rate on 11 items of nonferrous metal products such as copper, nickel, and electrolytic aluminum shall be 15%.

According to the Ministry of Finance, because of the Chinese government's controlling over the growth rate of energy-consumption products, as from November 1, 2006, provisional tariff rates of some imported/exported commodities were adjusted. The 110 items of commodities with additional export tariffs also include 44 items of mineral products like apatite, rare earth metal ore, and metal ore under the provisional rate of 10%, 4 items of energy products such as coal, coke, and crude oil under the rate of 5%, 30 items of steel products like iron alloy, pig iron, and billet under the rate of 10%, and 21 items of products like rare earth compounds, wood flooring, and disposable chopsticks under the rate of 10%.