Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said Thursday China will
cancel export tariffs it imposed on outbound textile products as of
next year, while maintaining its flexible import tariff on cotton
that falls outside the import quota.
Jin, also chairman of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State
Council, said the export tariff on textile products China imposed
in early 2005 was intended to safeguard the normal order of the
world's textile trade.
As China reached agreements with both the European Union and the
United States on quantitative limits on textile exports to the two
markets, it would constitute double curbs on Chinese textile
producers and exporters if the export tariffs were remained, said
the minister.
All export tariffs on textile products will be cancelled from
January 1, 2006, he said.
Jin said China's flexible tariff on cotton imports outside
import quotas were created to maintain the stability of cotton
prices in China, and the tariff rates would range from 5 percent to
40 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)
