China is to change import duty rates on 26 types of goods, such as cutting the rate for frozen pork, blood albumin, human vaccine and cotton, among others.

The Ministry of Finance said in an announcement in Beijing on Wednesday that it would halve the import duty on frozen pork to 6 percent from June 1 to December 31. On nine types of goods, including codfish, pistachio nuts, food for infants, milk serum and yeast, there would be cuts from between 6 percent to 25 percent to between 2 percent to 10 percent.

During the same period, import duties on feedstuffs such as groundnut meal and soybean meal, would be reduced from 5 percent to 2 percent, and the 3-percent rate on four types of medicines, including blood albumin and human vaccine, would be canceled.

Import duties on coconut oil and olive oil would be cut from 10 percent and 9 percent, respectively, to 5 percent from June 1 to September 30.

Sliding duties on cotton import would be reduced from between 5 percent to 40 percent to between 3 percent to 40 percent from June 5 to October 5, and restored to original rates after then.

The duty alteration also involves a temporary zero-percent import duty on rectangular-cut marble and travertine, and some adjustment made to temporary duties on cassette video recorders.

The adjustments aimed at increasing the domestic supply of some less-produced goods, providing for the strong demand for medicine resulting from quake relief works, and making up for the cotton supply gap before new cotton came out this season, said the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2008)