(Yicai Global) Dec. 16 -- China will adjust some of its import and export tariffs next month, which is expected to increase its high-tech product imports and make its raw material exports more expensive.

On Jan. 1, the world's second-largest economy will impose temporary import tariffs on 954 commodity types while the rates are lower than the most-favored-nation tariff, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced yesterday. MFN rates are the highest that World Trade Organization members charge one another. China's average rate will remain at 7.4 percent after the adjustments.

The changes will promote imports of environmentally friendly equipment amid the country's efforts to have its carbon dioxide emissions peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, said Bai Ming, deputy director of a market research department at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

The adjustments should increase high-tech product imports while reducing exports of primary commodities such as phosphorus and blister copper by raising the export duties to ease the pressure on domestic raw material supply, Bai added.

Some of the reductions involve transport and information technology. The nation will cut MFN tariffs on 62 IT products. It will lower import tariffs on gasoline particle catchers, peat that can be used for soil remediation, as well as those of key fuel cell components such as high-purity graphene parts and membrane electrode assemblies.

Meanwhile, some policies are becoming more restrictive. China will cancel some tariff discounts on amino acids, pork, and gelatin, resuming the MFN tariff. It will hike its export tariffs on phosphorus and blister copper based on domestic industrial development, as well as supply and demand.

China will give zero-tariff treatment to a new anticancer drug, radium chloride injections. It will slash import tariffs on medical products such as intracranial thrombectomy stents and artificial joints, as well as those of some aquatic products, ski equipment, and more than 100-year-old oil paintings.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi