The Chinese government will maintain its export duties on most ferro-alloys and some nonferrous metals for 2021.
Beijing will keep a 20pc export tariff on ferro-alloys including ferro-manganese, silicon-manganese, ferro-silicon and pig iron, the country’s ministry of finance said. The duty on ferro-chrome will be unchanged at 15pc.
The tariffs are aimed at curbing production of energy-sensitive and polluting products. Many Chinese export firms for ferro-alloys have been less concerned about Beijing’s export policies this year as the domestic market has been more profitable and the appreciation of the yuan against the US dollar has squeezed their profit margins from overseas shipments.
The yuan rose to 6.536 today against the dollar, up sharply from 6.963 at the start of this year.
China exported 14,238t of ferro-silicon (Si>55pc) in October, down by 27.9pc from 19,752t a year earlier and down by 18.9pc from September. Export firms have found it difficult to conclude deals because of their uncompetitive prices from the 20pc tariff.
China cancelled its export tariffs on manganese, tungsten, molybdenum and rare earths in 2015 in response to a World Trade Organization ruling that the country’s export restrictions breached the organisation’s rules.
Beijing in December 2018 also removed silicon-chrome, ferro-titanium, ferro-silicon-titanium, ferro-niobium and ferro-vanadium with a 75pc maximum vanadium content from the 2019 export duty list, while it reduced their duties to 10pc in 2018 from 15pc in 2017.
China will also keep a 30pc duty on zinc and lead concentrates in 2021, along with a 20pc duty on concentrates of tin, antimony and tungsten. In December 2018, China cancelled the 10pc duty on concentrates of silver, uranium, zirconium and titanium. Beijing will continue to impose a 15pc duty on unwrought nickel, aluminium, zinc and copper in 2021.
The duty on antimony metal will remain unchanged at 5pc. The country’s legitimate antimony exports have returned to normal levels since September 2019 as Beijing adopted measures to curb unauthorised trades. China exported 7,250t of antimony metal in January-October, down by 28.41pc from 10,127t a year earlier as demand from outside of China, particularly from Europe and the US, softened because of Covid-19.
Beijing will maintain a 2pc import tariff on a number of battery materials including cobalt tetroxide, cobalt hydroxide, carbonate and oxide, nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, lithium carbonate and lithium cobalt oxide, the ministry of finance said. Duties on lithium and calcium metals will be unchanged at 1pc.
China will continue to impose a 1pc import duty on some ferro-alloys such as ferro-molybdenum, ferro-tungsten and ferro-chrome with carbon content below 4pc.
Imports of rare earth metals and oxides will remain exempt from duties next year. China imported 58,381t of rare earth metal ores from the US during January-October, up by 55pc from 37,637t a year earlier. Almost all the rare earth metal ore imports were taken by Chinese rare earth separation producer Shenghe Resources. The firm restarted operations at its Leshan separation plant in late October, after it shut in the middle of August because of floods.
Beijing will also maintain a 1pc import duty on unwrought antimony, bismuth, niobium, zinc and nickel metals. The tariffs on spodumene, ferro-nickel, ferro-niobium, vanadium-nitrogen alloy, ferro-chrome with carbon content above 4pc and copper metal will remain at zero.
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