China drops import tariff on BD feed ingredients

FT ONLINE

China on Tuesday said it would remove import tariffs on animal feed ingredients from five Asian neighbours, including Bangladesh,

The second largest economic country of the world will lift the tariff in a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies of the commodities as a trade dispute with the number one economy escalates.

China would drop tariffs on soybeans, soybean cake and fishmeal originating in Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka from July 1, the Ministry of Finance said.

Currently, there are 3.0 per cent tariff on soybeans, 5.0 per cent on soybean cake, and 2.0 per cent on fishmeal, reports Reuters.

Apart from India, the countries included are relatively small soybean producers. None of them exported any of the oilseed to China in 2017, the report said.

India exported 269,000 tonnes of beans in the 2016/17 marketing year while the country grew 11 million tonnes, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.

The move comes less than two weeks after Beijing said it would impose additional 25-per cent tariffs on 659 US goods worth $50 billion, including soybeans, as a prolonged trade spat between China and US.

The extra penalties were in retaliation for Washington’s decision to levy tariffs on Chinese goods and have raised concerns that they will inflate costs and cut supplies of ingredients used in animal feed for the nation’s vast livestock sector.

Soybeans are China’s biggest agricultural import from the United States by value.