Weekly Report: Sliding Tariff for Import Cotton Levied up Slightly

Recently, Ministry of Finance of China announced the tariff plan for 2014, as for cotton the sliding tariff and import quotas will continue to be carried out. Besides the 894,000 ton under 1% tariff, cotton import shall be levied by sliding tariff as before, and the modification compared with previous year is the threshold price will be upgraded by 1,000 Yuan per ton, relevant parameters in the calculation formula are also modified for higher tariff level as a result. Under current exchange rate, when the foreign cotton offer price is between 55.5-111 cent/lb., additional tariff shall be applied from 0 to 431 Yuan, the increase degree shall drop gradually as price goes up. This modification shall affect middle or low grade import cotton more than higher grade one. 
Last week (16^th/20^th December), CC Index 3128B settled at 19,520 Yuan per ton, 22 Yuan up over the week. Seed cotton buying came to the final stage, according to CCA cotton processing industry branch, seed cotton equivalent of 3128 in Xinjiang has weekly average price of 8.66 Yuan per kilo, 0.1 Yuan up over the week; that in inland has average price of 8.54 Yuan per kilo, 0.09 Yuan up over the week.
By 20^th December, 380,300 ton of reserve cotton was offered for auction, 193,900 ton was sold finally, comprising of 148,600 ton of domestic cotton at transaction percentage of 44.4%, import cotton of 45,300 ton at transaction percentage of 98.4%; reserve purchase of the season totaled 4,364,860 ton, including 1,821,800 ton from Xinjiang, 1,072,170 ton from inland and 1,470,890 ton via large contract.