By Xie Fang
Just one week after deciding to dramatically reduce the tariffs on imported vehicles, the State Council announced Wednesday that the tariffs on imported consumer staples would also be cut significantly from July 1 this year.
The decision was announced at an executive meeting of the State Council which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.
According to the decision, from July 1, the average tariff rate for imported garments, kitchen ware, and sports equipment will be lowered from 16.9 percent to 7.1 percent; the rate for imported home appliances including washing machines and refrigerators down from 20.5 percent to 8 percent; the rate for imported aquatic products and processed food down from 15.2 percent to 6.9 percent; the rate for imported cleaning products, cosmetics and some nutritional supplements down from 8.4 percent to 2.9 percent.
The State Council pointed out that the further reduction of the tariffs on consumer staple imports would further open up the Chinese market, satisfy the demand of Chinese consumers, and promote the upgrading of relevant domestic industries.
Zhang Lianqi, member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and managing partner of Ruihua Certified Public Accountants, noted that the tariff cut was in line with the direction of China’s consumption upgrade and would spur the growth of the domestic consumption.
Wu Yabin, executive dean of the Research Institute for Global Value Chain of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), believed that the tariff reduction would not only help bring down consumption costs but also force Chinese companies to improve the quality of their products, which would eventually accelerate the overall industrial upgrading.
The tariff cut for consumer staple imports is China’s latest move to open up its vast domestic market. Previously, China had freed imported cancer drugs from tariff and substantially lower the tariffs on imported cars.
