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UPDATED: December 20, 2006 NO.48 NOV.30, 2006
China's Six Major Commitments to WTO in Respect of Agriculture
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1. Cut the average agriculture tariff from 17.9 percent in 2001 to 15.6 percent by 2004, and to 15 percent in 2010. After 2010, the tariffs of more than 80 of the over 1,000 agricultural products should be cut to within 17 percent. For instance, the tariffs of beef, pork and poultry would be cut from 40, 20 and 16 percent respectively to 12 percent. Fruit tariffs would be cut from 40 percent to 10 percent. Additionally, soybean will subject to a "tariff-only" system and the import tariff will be 3 percent.

2. Establish a WTO-consistent tariff-rate quota system for agricultural products, especially for bulk commodities. The original absolute quota system should be replaced by a tariff-only system regarding wheat, corn, rice, soybean oil and sugar. China will adopt a low, within-quota tariff of 1 percent. From the day China entered the WTO till 2004, China was committed to tariff-only quotas of 9.4 million tons of wheat (up from 8.452 million tons), 5.3 million tons of rice (up from 3.76 million tons), 7.2 million tons of corn (up from 5.6 million tons), 890,000 tons of cotton (up from 814,000 tons), and 3.3 million tons of soybean oil (up from 2.51 million tons).

3. According to WTO rules, the government shouldn't monopolize the price when exercising a tariff-rate quota mechanism.

4. The WTO stipulates that the actionable subsidy for agriculture in developing countries should be 10 percent of the total agricultural gross domestic product, while it should be 5 percent in developed countries, and China is committed to 8.5 percent.

5. Eliminate export subsidies for any agricultural products.

6. In the field of agricultural service, after China's WTO accession, foreign companies should be allowed to establish joint ventures in China to operate in agriculture, forestry, poultry and fishery industries. Within three years of China's accession to the WTO, foreign service enterprises are allowed to distribute and market agricultural related commodities and within five years of accession into the WTO, foreign enterprises are allowed to distribute fertilizer, refined oil and crude oil.  



 
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