The Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China issued a joint announcement in recent days stating that in order to actively respond to the effects of the financial crisis and maintain steady growth in foreign trade, China will adjust the categories of processing trade restrictions and prohibitions. The import tax exemption policy for copper, nickel, cobalt ore and its concentrates will be resumed from February 1.
The announcement published on the website of the Ministry of Commerce also stated that from February 1st onwards, the tax exemption policy for the export of refined copper, unwrought nickel alloy, non-alloy aluminum bars, rods, etc. will be resumed.
According to the announcement, 1,730 ten commodity codes were excluded from the restricted category, specifically related to textiles, plastics (7540, 355.00, 4.94%, bar) products, wood products, and hardware products, which accounted for the total number of products subject to processing trade restrictions. 77% involved processing trade exports worth about US$30 billion.
Twenty-seven commodity codes, including copper, nickel and aluminum products, were excluded from the prohibited category, involving exports of processing trade of approximately US$1.5 billion, accounting for 30% of the total amount of prohibited items.