Beijing to remove taxes on tungsten and molybdenum exports

Beijing will remove taxes on exports of tungsten and molybdenum from the start of next month, while tariffs on shipments of ferroalloys, indium and aluminium rods and bars will also be scrapped as the central government tries to support the mainland's slowing economy.

This is in addition to the removal of taxes on rare earth exports from next month that was announced earlier. Beijing had been widely expected to scrap tariffs and quotas on rare earth shipments after a World Trade Organisation panel branded them discriminatory last year.

The mainland accounts for more than 90 per cent of global rare earth production, giving it a chokehold over the supply of 17 elements with a wide range of uses in hi-tech sectors such as defence and renewable energy.

It would no longer impose taxes on exports of ores, oxide and metal of rare earth, tungsten and molybdenum from May, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It will also cancel export tariffs for non-alloyed and alloyed aluminium rods, bars that are typically used in smelting pots and power plants.

Mainland producers had been skirting taxes and exporting these rods and bars by selling them as part of duty-free machinery, two industry sources said.

Other varieties of aluminium rods and bars are not subject to export taxes and carry 13 per cent value-added tax rebates, making them more popular with exporters.