November 21, 2008

China\'s efforts to slash mineral exports pay off in 2007

Xinhua reported that China's efforts to curb heavy outflow of non renewable mineral resources from the country have paid off.

According to the General Administration of Customs, last year China exported 120 million tonnes of 142 sorts of mineral resources in five categories, including non metallic ores, metallic ores, mineral fuels, silicon and rare earth, representing a decline of 16.6% from the previous year.

The report added that the exports were valued at USD 12.6 billion up by 2.8%. Prices of the mineral exports were up by 23.2% on average. Of the total foreign sales, mineral fuels accounted for 72.28 million tonnes down by 14% and non metallic ores made up 51.15 million tons down by 20.4%.

Since the second half of 2006, China has intensified control over export of mineral resources. It discontinued export rebates for almost all kinds of mineral resources and began to levy export duties of five percent to 15% on metallic ores that were in dearth at home and on coal, coke and some other mineral products.