Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said Thursday China will cancel export tariffs it imposed on outbound textile products as of next year, while maintaining its flexible import tariff on cotton that falls outside the import quota.

Jin, also chairman of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, said the export tariff on textile products China imposed in early 2005 was intended to safeguard the normal order of the world's textile trade.

As China reached agreements with both the European Union and the United States on quantitative limits on textile exports to the two markets, it would constitute double curbs on Chinese textile producers and exporters if the export tariffs were remained, said the minister.

All export tariffs on textile products will be cancelled from January 1, 2006, he said.

Jin said China's flexible tariff on cotton imports outside import quotas were created to maintain the stability of cotton prices in China, and the tariff rates would range from 5 percent to 40 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2005)