HONG KONG: China may announce tax hikes as soon as Friday on exports of metals, probably including aluminium billet, tungsten and antimony, in the latest effort to trim the country’s huge trade surplus and cool investment in the resource-intensive metals sector.
Beijing is expected to introduce a 5 percent tax on exports of aluminium billet. Chinese exporters may be required to pay a 10 to 15 percent tax on the outflow of tungsten and antimony from January.
An official at the Ministry of Finance said the ministry might announce tax changes on exports of a basket of commodities on Friday. The ministry was waiting for approval from the State Council, China’s cabinet.
“Tomorrow is possible. We submitted the proposal a long time ago,” the official told Reuters. From Nov 1 this year, Beijing trebled the tax on exports of unwrought primary aluminium to 15 percent. Billet exports were left duty-free. Some Chinese firms exported primary aluminium in various forms and claimed semis, such as plate and sheet, which are subject to 8 to 11 percent tax rebates. The semis do not carry export taxes.
Tungsten, antimony: Ch-ina may also introduce a 10 to 15 percent tax on exports of tungsten and antimony, including ammonium paratungstate (APT) and antimony trioxide, which are heavily traded intermediate products of the two metals.
He said exports of refined antimony was already subject to a 5 percent tax in China, the world’s top supplier of the metal which is used as a fire-retardant. reuters
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