2019 China SR Import Tariff Analysis

China released Notice on 2019 Temporary Import and Export Tariffs Adjustment Plan of Tariff Commission of State Council (TCSC) (hereinafter referred to as the Notice) on December 22, 2018. According to the Notice, some products’ import and export tariffs will be adjusted from January 1, 2019. Hereinto, the import tariffs of synthetic rubber (SR) attract players’ attention. Some players hold that the tariffs will change. In fact, the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement came into effect on December 20, 2015, and the tariffs were reduced on that day. The tariffs were reduced for the second time on January 1, 2016. By January 1, 2019, this is the fifth time for the tariff reduction.

According to SCI, the tariffs of most South Korean-origin SR were lowered to 6.5% on January 1, 2016. They dropped by 0.5% year by year. By 2029, the tariffs will be zero. Based on this calculation, the tariff reduction on January 1, 2019 is the implementation of the previous policy instead of a new one. Besides, the conventional tariffs implemented in New Zealand, Peru, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia, Georgia, Hong Kong (China) and Macao (China) are zero. TCSC released a notice on June 26, 2018 that the import tariffs of Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka-origin products were to comply with Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement No. 2 Amendment. According to the 2 policies above, the lower tariffs were preferred. Therefore, the tariffs of South Korean-origin SR are 4.9%-5% from January 1, 2019.