China will steadily cut export-related taxes to zero and increase financial help for struggling exporters to maintain stable export growth, according to Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

Zero tax rates will gradually be restored for export products in accordance with international practice, Chen said in an interview with Study Times, a weekly newspaper issued by the Party School of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China.

But curbs on exports polluting, high-energy and resource-consuming products will be maintained, he said. The government will also help exporters which are facing difficulties in financing.

Chen's remark came after China's exports fell 17.5 percent in January from a year earlier amid a global slump. The release of last month's trade figures is due this week, and some media outlets, citing official sources, have reported exports may tumble more than 20 percent. The drop could be even larger because of the timing of the Spring Festival which fell in January this year but in February last year.

China has raised rebates of value-added taxes on a range of products such as textiles and garments and cut or removed export tariffs on some others as part of measures to ease the pain of weakening global demand and ensure the target of an 8-percent economic growth this year is met.

Although the world economy is already in recession, the focus of global production would continue moving to Asia, Chen said. "China should have ample confidence and seize the opportunity to advance and lift its share of the international market."

(Shanghai Daily March 10, 2009)