China will ban almost 600 additional items from the processing
trade in a bid to curb exports of low value-added products and lift
businesses up the industrial chain.
Exports of 589 items will be banned in order to stop processing
firms from importing raw materials and re-exporting finished
products duty-free, according to a new Prohibited List for
Processing Trade released on Monday by the Ministry of Commerce and
the General Administration of Customs.
Some steel, petrochemical, aluminum and mineral products are
among the list which will take effect from January 21, bringing the
total number of prohibited items to 1,729.
The new blacklist follows a similar one in April this year,
which banned processing trade of fuel oil and heavy diesel as well
as some metals.
Given most items in the new ban are primary goods, the move aims
to curb exports with low added value and low-end technologies, the
commerce ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it anticipates the ban will spur processing
enterprises to develop into sectors with higher technologies and
add more value to their finished products.
The list shows that the government is highlighting the
protection of resources, too, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher with the
Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a
think tank affiliated to the commerce ministry.
He described the new list as "environment-oriented", as it
contains items made from endangered animals or plants.
Many also entail polluting and energy-intensive chemical and
steel products.
China previously encouraged processing as part of its export-led
growth policy. But it is now trying to limit export industries that
are energy-intensive, heavily polluting, or likely to cause trade
frictions with other countries.
Processing trade increased 18.7 percent year-on-year to $894.6
billion in the first 11 months, accounting for nearly half of the
country's total imports and exports. It is also a major source of
China's widening trade surplus.
(China Daily December 26, 2007)