CAMERAS, photocopy machines and sunglasses are on China's latest list of imports to face tariff reductions, but foreign vendors say the cuts are not enough to stimulate sales.
In line with previously announced items, components saw bigger cuts than finished products.
The tariffs on cameras will be reduced to 30 per cent from 50 per cent while that on camera parts will be cut to 15 per cent from 40 per cent.
A camera trader said he was not excited about the news because Beijing had announced measures to restrict camera imports.
'There was news last week the government would more strictly implement rules that require approval documents,' he said. 'If that is true, it's meaningless to have a zero tariff if we can't get the document.' China approved documents allowing tens of thousands of cameras to be imported a year, but the actual number of imports through 'unofficial channels' was several million.
Even with the tariff cut, imported cameras were still expensive by China's standard and could fetch $1,500 on the mainland compared with $1,000 in Hong Kong, the trader said.
He said if there was no tariff or the tariff was very low, his company would be able to compete with smuggled goods.
