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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (3234)	5/24/2004 12:59:51 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China scraps coke export tax rebates -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHANGHAI - China has scrapped tax rebates for coke exports and suspended approvals for new coke plants amid concerns over excessive investment in the industry, reports state press. "The production capacity is growing too fast and the risk of a market glut is looming large," the China Daily quoted Shu Chaohui, an official with the Industrial Policy Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, as saying. To combat the potential crisis Shu said that the government planned to announce stricter standards for new producers in the next two months as part of efforts to cool the overheating sector. Currently, 183 coke ovens are being constructed which will have a combined production capacity of 68 million tonnes a year, nearly 40% of total capacity in China, the newspaper said. In January, China had reduced tax rebates on coke exports to five% from 15%. Rising coke prices and surging demand has been attracting steelmakers to open their own production plants and for existing coke producers to expand capacity, the report added. China's efforts to slow investment in its overheating steel sector is likely to lead to excessive production capacity in the coking industry, Shu said. By the end of February this year, there were more than 700 coke producers in China, with a combined capacity of over 178 million tonnes. Last week China's coking coal industry warned that the removal of export quotas sought by the European Union would be "disastrous" for Chinese producers. Abandoning the export quotas would cause a sharp fall in prices and trigger a price war among local coke makers, it claimed. The EU says Beijing has broken trade law by restricting exports of coke, a key raw material for steelmakers, thereby reducing global supplies and forcing up world prices to dizzying heights. AFP bday.co.za