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BEIJING: China will cut import taxes on a range of goods including food and drug items, as it seeks to curb inflation and help victims of this month's earthquake, state media said on Thursday.
Tariffs on frozen pork will be cut to six percent from 12 percent between June 1 and December 31, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing the finance ministry.
Taxes on cod fish and baby foods will be reduced in the same period to as low as two percent from six to 25 percent previously, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.
The government will stop levying the three-percent import tariff on medical items including some blood serum products and human vaccines for six months from June 1.
It will also cut taxes on high-quality cotton to 357 yuan (51.5 dollars) per tonne from 570 yuan between June 5 and October 5, the statement said.
The statement did not say how big a percentage of China's total imports would be affected by the tariff reductions.
The move was to better meet demand in the quake relief work and alleviate the short supply of some foods and cotton to contain inflation, the Xinhua news agency cited the ministry as saying on Wednesday.
The 8.0-magnitude earthquake, the worst natural disaster to hit China in a generation, struck the southwest province of Sichuan on May 12 and has left nearly 88,000 people dead or missing and 15 million others displaced.
Officials are concerned the earthquake would put upward pressure on inflation, which rebounded to 8.5 percent in April after hitting a near 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February but weakening to 8.3 percent in March.
However, officials from the National Development and Reform Commission said Wednesday they expected the impact to be only limited.
- AFP/so
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