THE Ministry of Finance yesterday announced adjustments to some import and export tariffs for 2019, removing import duties on alternatives to soymeal for animal feeds and tariffs on fertilizers and iron ore exports, to boost foreign trade as the economy slows.

Import tariffs on so-called alternative meals, including rapeseed meal, cotton meal, sunflower meal and palm meal, will be removed from Jan. 1, along with those for the materials of some pharmaceutical goods, the finance ministry said in a statement on its website.

China will levy temporary tariffs on more than 700 items next year and will maintain relatively low import tariffs for aircraft engines, at 1 percent, to help grow its indigenous plane-making industry, the ministry added.

Temporary tax rates for manganese slag and lithium-ion battery cells for new energy vehicles will be removed and most-favored-nation tax rates will be imposed on those products, according to the ministry.

For exports, China will not levy any export tariffs on 94 products next year including fertilizers, iron ore, slag, coal tar and wood pulp.

It will also further cut most-favored-nation tariffs on 298 information technology products from July 2019. The statement did not give details.

China’s economic growth slowed to 6.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, the weakest pace since the global financial crisis.

A key item in the trade tussle is U.S. soybean exports. China imposed a 25-percent tariffs on soybeans in July in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods causing a sharp drop in imports. Soybeans are key material for animal feed for China’s vast livestock herds.

The U.S. is the second-largest soybean supplier to China with that component of the trade between the countries worth US$12 billion in 2017.

“This is basically getting ready for a rainy day, as commercial purchases of U.S. soybeans haven’t kicked off and so far it’s been just the State-owned firms that have done the buying,” said Monica Tu, analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence Co.

“Though the volume of alternative meal imports is not that huge, they can substitute soy. (The tax removal) is basically offering end users more options,” Tu said.

China brings in soybeans to crush into meal for animal feed and cooking oil. The country has the world’s largest pig herd.

China had previously sought ways to cut protein levels in animal feed and import more alternative meals, to reduce its reliance on U.S. soybean shipments.(SD-Agencies)