The Ministry of Commerce has estimated that its new rule on processed exports will increase costs by only 600 million yuan, according to a senior official.
Wang Qinhua, who heads the ministry's department of mechanical, electronic and high-technology industry, has calculated the extra finance costs for the US$30 billion worth of processed export goods covered by a new requirement that exporters deposit with the government between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of the amount they spend sourcing 1,853 types of raw materials.
'It will be shared by all exporters on coastal regions, which is not a too-heavy-to-bear burden,' Ms Wang said in an online chat on the central government website yesterday. 'But there is material impact on firms with heavy export exposure.'
She said the rule would take effect on August 23 as announced last month, dashing the hopes of about 45,000 Hong Kong processing exporters in the Pearl River Delta for a transition period of at least six months.
'Therefore, exporters in question should step up the pace in switching to value-added or hi-tech goods and planning for their future,' Ms Wang said.
Beijing has issued the rule to narrow the country's record trade surplus, which stood at US$112.5 billion in the first half of this year, and cut down on polluting, low-margin industries.
Processed goods represent about 55 per cent of the country's total exports.