Chinesepod - New processing trade policy to upgrade export structure

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BIZCHINA / From the Watchdogs

New processing trade policy to upgrade export structure

By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-24 11:06

The Ministry of Commerce and China Customs yesterday jointly released a
restricted commodities catalogue in the processing trade industry,
according to Xinhua.

The catalogue covers 1,853 product tax numbers mainly in the
labor-intensive industry, such as plastic materials and products, textile
yarn, furniture, and piece goods, accounting for 15 percent of all HS
codes.

Exporters of related products are required to have guarantee deposits in
the Bank of China, while registering their process trade contracts with
the authorities.

The move is an effort to improve the technology in processing trade
products, adjust export products structure, and rein in the export of
low-value added products. It is also a bid to optimize industrial
structure and relieve trade surplus, said Wei Jianguo, vice Minister of
Commerce.

The nation will not approve the processing trade business of restricted
commodities in the newly-built foreign-trade enterprises in eastern
China, and A-type and B-type processing trade enterprises in middle and
western China will still adopt the bank deposit accounting system.

Figures show that the processing trade export industry accounted for 19
percent of the country's GDP in 2006.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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