Reduction of Custom Duty Rates in China

China has as of Dec 1st 2017 reduced its import duty rates for a wide array of consumer products as part of its trade liberalization. We have translated the list to English, please click on the following link to find the full list.

Reduction of Duty Rates

On 187 products, the average rate of tax is now 8%, in contrast with 17% rate before the legislation, which means an overall reduction of 55%.

We broke down to main segments, which are the following:

•  Food (i.e seafood, nuts, meat etc.): reduction of approx. 51%
• Medicine (types of penicillin and other medical supplies); reduction of approx. 60%
• Cosmetics (mostly make-up products): reduction of approximately 56%
• Personal Hygiene Products (shampoo, deodorant, tooth-relate products etc.): reduction of approximately 53%
• Garments and Shoes (wool-knit products, shawls, boots, slippers etc.): reduction of approx. 60%
• Utilities (air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, radiators, irons etc.): reduction of approx. 53%

The list also includes many other products with a reduced import duty rate (i.e. whiskey, baby milk powder).

Why this reduction?

This reduction is seen as a move from China to increase competitiveness in favor of foreign companies in local consumer markets, encourage more domestic shoppers to buy products within China rather than overseas, and fulfilling trade liberalization promises made in the past.

If you want to learn more about these developments and how this would affect your company, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@msadvisory.com.

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