Briefly

Tianjin sees steady pickup in foreign trade

Foreign trade rose by 17.5 percent on a yearly basis to 184.9 billion yuan ($28.5 billion) during the first quarter of the year in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin, according to Customs data. The city's imports rose by 5.7 percent on a yearly basis to about 105 billion yuan, while exports climbed to approximately 80 billion yuan, up 37.5 percent year-on-year.

Tariff waiver for some iron, steel products

China will exempt import tariffs on some iron and steel products, including pig iron, crude steel, recycling iron-steel materials and ferrochrome, from May 1, according to a statement issued by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council on Wednesday. Tariffs on exports of products such as ferrosilicon, ferrochromium, and high-purity pig iron will be raised temporarily, to rates of 25 percent, 20 percent, and 15 percent, respectively. The statement said that the move is expected to reduce import costs, expand steel imports, support domestic steel output reduction, curb steel industry energy consumption, and promote the transformation and upgrade of the steel industry.

China Daily - Xinhua