August 20, 2008
China's import of tariff-reduced products in the first half year reached US$3.95 billion, up 43.6 percent on-year, according to data released by China Customs.
The import of tariff-reduced products rose 31 percent to US$700 million dollars in June when the tariff reduction officially came into effect.
The data show that all the tariff-reduced products saw import increase in the first half of this year except frozen cod and baby food.
Frozen pork import was up 9.7 times, that of soymeal and earthnut meal up 1.9 times, and that of edible vegetable oil up 61.5 percent.
China decided to temporarily reduce import tariffs on 26 commodities of 6 general types (or "tariff-reduced products"), including food items, edible vegetable oil, livestock feed products, to curb rising inflation.
The temporary import tariff reduction for certain food and related products can help with domestic supply shortage, China Customs said.