Import duties on raw materials cut

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Finance has cut import tariffs on 153 raw materials and intermediary products by five to 10 percentage points as a follow-up step to boost exports and revive the country's economy.

The Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said in a decree No. 447/KMK.01/1997 that the new tariff cut became effective on Sept. 17.

The cut will automatically reduce the country's weighted average tariff level from 11.9 percent, which had been in place since July 4, to 11.76 percent now.

Head of the ministry's legal and public relations bureau, Agus Haryanto, said the latest tariff cut was made ahead of the original schedule due to the currency turmoil.

"This import tariff cut will encourage export-oriented industries to produce and export more and strengthen our national economy," Agus said.

Out of 153 items, 40 items include textiles and textile- related products, 67 wood products, 31 petrochemical products, nine leather products and three items of steel and machinery, automotive and agriculture products.

Products affected by the cut include peanuts whose tariff was cut from 20 percent to 10 percent, tire cord from 20 percent to 15 percent, dinatrium sulfate and acetylene from 15 percent to 10 percent.

Tariffs on polyester, staple fiber, rayon viscose, veneer and processed leather were cut from 10 percent to 5 percent, while tariffs on unwoven textiles and sawn logs were reduced from 10 percent to zero, and those on soybean and soybean oil were cut from 5 percent to zero.

The new decree also reclassified several products into the new harmonized system and changed their tariff structure.

For example, acrylic and polymer vinyl paints, whose tariffs previously stood at 20 percent, were divided into paints for leather with 5 percent tariffs and others with 20 percent tariffs. (rid)