The Notification of the Tariff Commission of The State Council on tariff Adjustment Plan for 2022 was released on December 15. What impact will the tariff policy in the field of steel products have on China's steel import and export?

In terms of steel imports, compared with 2021, steel products involved in the provisional tariff table of imported goods in 2022 increased from 9 items to 27 items, and the original 9 items in 2021 are still retained. The tariff numbers 72024900 and 72031000 will maintain the policy in early May 2021. The 18 tariff codes added still maintain the tariff adjustment policy in early May, mainly adjusting varieties for pig iron, recycled iron and steel raw materials, primary iron and non-alloy steel ingot, billet, stainless steel ingot and semi-finished products and semi-finished products of alloy and other primary products, temporary MFN import tariff is 2%, temporary tax rate is zero.

"The continuation of preferential tariffs on imports of primary products reflects that China's policy orientation in supporting imports of primary steel products has not changed." Wang Guoqing, director of Lange Steel Research Center, pointed out that this can effectively reduce the import cost of primary products in the steel industry and improve the import volume of related products. Promoting the import of pig iron, steel recycled raw materials, billets and other primary products will also help reduce the demand for iron ore and overseas dependence, and improve the effect of domestic resource security.

In terms of export tariffs, the iron and steel products involved in the provisional tariff rate of export commodities are reduced from 18 items in 2021 to 17 items in 2022, and ex72011000 high-purity pig iron items in 2021 are deleted. The export tax rate of the listed products is the same as that of last year. For the two ferrosilicon items with tariff codes 72022100 and 72022900, the temporary preferential tax rate will be cancelled since May 1, 2021, and 25% export tariff will be applied. After the temporary tariff rate of the two ferrochrome items with tariff Code 72024100 and 72024900 is raised from 15% to 20% on May 1, 2021, the 20% temporary tariff rate preference will be cancelled in 2022, and the 40% export tax rate will be applied. The export tax rate for other products will be maintained at 20 to 40 percent.

In this regard, Wang Guoqing said, ferrosilicon, ferrochrome export tariffs and the continuation of high export tariffs on other products, reflecting China's increased export restrictions on ferroalloy, recycled steel raw materials and other products, the purpose is to increase the export cost of enterprises to suppress the export of related products, in order to meet the domestic demand for related primary products.

In 2021, China adjusted import and export tariffs and export tax rebates twice, and raised export tariffs on some products again in 2022. Lange Iron and Steel Research Center believes that this is conducive to the overall use of domestic and foreign resources at the same time, promote the priority of steel industry chain products in the domestic application, ensure the supply of relevant resources in the domestic market, and then promote the healthy development of the steel industry chain.

"In the context of double carbon, the adjustment of the tariff policy, while ensuring domestic demand, to guide the rational use of foreign resources for deployment, to promote the benign development of China's steel industry chain, stable operation of the domestic market rhythm." My steel network analysis points out that, in a comprehensive view, the overall impact of this round of tax rate adjustment on China's steel import and export is not big, and the subsequent monitoring of supply and demand at home and abroad as well as price difference changes. In view of the current domestic price difference of steel products is still relatively obvious, my steel network believes that in order to ensure the balance of supply and demand, there will be a New Deal on steel import and export in 2022.

In the scrap market, the import and export tax rates of scrap steel in 2022 will maintain the tax rate policy of 2021, and the most-favored-nation treatment related to the import of recycled steel raw materials will remain unchanged. The temporary tax rate will continue the policy of May, that is, the import tariffs under the five HS codes related to the import will remain zero-tariff import. The MFN treatment of scrap export maintains 40% export tariff rate without temporary tariff rate. My steel network believes that with a high export tariff of 40%, scrap exports are difficult to increase; For imports, zero - tariff import policy on the expansion of scrap imports is also limited. With the intensification of the global green and low-carbon competition, the importance of scrap resources to the steel industry is self-evident. The increase of China's scrap imports still depends on the change of the import standard of scrap and the rationalization of the import price difference.