China Increases Export Tax On Coal

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

The Chinese authorities announced last Friday that they will hike export tariffs on coke and coking coal from 20th August.

The move is the latest attempt to try and counter the domestic shortage of such materials.

Under the new regime, export taxes on coking coal will be increased from 5% to 10%, while taxes on coke wll shoot up to 40% from 25%.

In addition to this, China will also levy a temporary 15% tax on aluminium alloy exports.

Speaking to the AFP with regard to the changes announced on Friday, Orient Securities analyst, Wang Shuai, observed that:

"Both coking coal and thermal coal are in short supply in China. The situation...has become the most severe in history."

Speaking to Reuters, meanwhile, Mark Pervan, a senior commodities analyst at the Australian & New Zealand (ANZ) bank in Melbourne commented:

"This is yet another indicator that China's supplies will be tighter than we had initially expected and should be a boost to Asian coal prices."