China has cut or scrapped tariffs on 5,375 commodities from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 2005 in an
effort to boost trade, said Wang Xinpei, spokesman with the
Ministry of Commerce, on Thursday.
The average tariff has been reduced from 9.9 percent to 5.8
percent since both sides signed the Agreement on Trade in Goods in
the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) in July 2005, when China
and ASEAN started to remove trade barriers by launching a tariff
reduction plan covering 7,000 categories of products.
Under the agreement, all the products will enjoy zero tariff
ratings by 2010 when the the free trade area is established.
From January to July, Sino-ASEAN trade volume soared 27.5
percent over the same period last year to 109.77 billion U.S.
dollars. China's imports stood at 58.77 billion U.S. dollars, up
22.4 percent, and exports 51 billion U.S. dollars, up 34
percent.
China mainly exports ships, knitted clothing, porcelain products
and vegetables to ASEAN countries, and imports copper, rubber and
coco products.
China is ASEAN's fourth largest trade partner, and ASEAN, for
the first time, became the fourth largest trade partner of China
this year.
(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)