BEIJING: China will build more duty-free shops at entry-exit ports and also expand the categories of imported duty-free products to “meet rising demand,” the Ministry of Finance said here the other day.
Shi Yaobin, vice minister of finance, said the 262 duty-free shops in China are insufficient to serve a surging number of foreign and domestic tourists.
“The plan is to meet the rising demand for imported goods, and to boost domestic consumption,” Shi told a media conference yesterday, adding that the plan is still being discussed.
Meanwhile, the ministry announced on Tuesday a cut in import tariffs by about 50 percent on goods such as skin-care products, diapers, leather boots, and woolen suits from next month, following a late April decision by the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, to slash import tariffs as China seeks to boost domestic consumption.
Chinese tourists purchased more than 60 billion yen (US$480 million) of goods in Japan using China UnionPay bank cards during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, a 250 percent year-on-year surge, according to data compiled by Japan’s Nikkei newspaper.
The government is likely to unveil policies to encourage home consumption, according to an analyst.
“We predict the government will cut the consumption tax in the next step to accelerate sales,” Zhu Yuan, analyst at Guoxin Securities Co, noted in his recent report.
