Source: Department of Information Consultancy of CHEAA

China will lower tariffs on some imported consumer goods as a way of further opening up to the world, in a bid to push the industry to elevate their product quality through industrial upgrading while meet the increasingly diversified consumption demands of people, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on May 30th, 2018. According to the meeting, average tariffs on some imported home appliances including washing machines and refrigerators will be slashed to 8% from the previous 20.5% since July 1st 2018. On May 31th 2018, a list of involved products including 71 categories of home appliances was released.

According to CHEAA’s estimation, average tariff for imported home appliances falls to 8% from the previous 25% with the average price (average price of imported home appliances plus tariffs) down by 13.6%. The biggest price plunges occur in freezers, pump-driven coffee makers and electric shavers, plummeting by 16.9%, 18.9% and 16.9% respectively, while that of air conditioners, refrigerators, electric ovens, grills, air purifiers, electric cookers and electric shavers all exceed 5%. However, the price change at the end markets will not be as much after distribution.