China Printing and Packaging Policy Review 2011: Digital Equipment, Key Technologies and Tariff Changes

Policy Watch

For the printing and packaging sector, 2011 was a pivotal year: it opened China's 12th Five-Year Plan, marked a shift from rapid growth to steadier development, and served as a critical period for printing enterprises to transform and upgrade. Judging from macro policies issued by various national ministries and commissions, printing, as one of eight key cultural industries, continued to receive stronger policy support that year. This review focuses on the printing and packaging policies released at the national level in 2011.

The measures covered digital equipment, key generic industrial technologies, import tariffs and cross-strait trade arrangements. They are summarized below.

1. Digital printing equipment named a high-tech industrialization priority

On October 20, the National Development and Reform Commission published the 2011 Guide to Current Priority Areas for High-Tech Industrialization on its website. Under advanced manufacturing, 11 digital-specific technologies and equipment were included: sheet-fed multicolor high-speed offset presses, inkjet digital presses, satellite flexographic presses, high-speed web offset presses, multicolor gravure presses, intelligent multicolor double-sided printing equipment, lithography-based imprinting equipment, computer-to-plate (CTP) technology and equipment, nanomaterial-based green platemaking technology and equipment, digital electronic shaft drive technology, and digital scan-to-plate integrated high-speed duplicators. Low-carbon and environmentally friendly packaging materials were listed under new materials.

Comment: The policy helped advance digital printing and the digitalization of printing, promote structural optimization and upgrading in the printing industry, and facilitate a shift in its development model.

1. Three printing equipment technologies added to key generic industrial technologies

On July 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the 2011 Guide to the Development of Key Industrial Generic Technologies on its website. Three key generic technologies for printing equipment were included: ink color control system technology for intelligent printing presses, electronic shaft (shaftless) drive system technology for intelligent printing presses, and piezoelectric inkjet printhead manufacturing technology for inkjet digital presses.

Comment: If domestic equipment manufacturers can develop and produce these three products, they could break the foreign monopoly.

1. Import tariffs on printing equipment adjusted in 2011

The State Council Tariff Policy Commission released the 2011 Tariff Implementation Plan on the Ministry of Finance website. Starting January 1, 2011, China further adjusted import and export tariff lines and rates. Compared with 2010, import tariffs on printing equipment and materials rose in some areas and fell in others: tariffs increased on imported plates and computer-to-plate (CTP) equipment, while tariffs decreased on imported inkjet heads.

Against the 2010 plan, most-favored-nation rates on imported PS plates and CTP plates rose substantially in 2011, from 2.9 yuan per square meter in 2010 to 8.1 yuan per square meter in 2011. CTP plates were subject to an interim rate of 4.7 yuan per square meter in 2011.

Another notable change in 2011 involved interim tariff rates on imported printing equipment and materials. The zero-tariff policy for imported CTP equipment, effective since November 1, 2006, was removed, and an interim rate of 3% was applied in 2011. The interim import tariff on piezoelectric inkjet heads was also reduced from 6% to 3%.

Comment: The removal of zero tariffs on imported CTP equipment reflected substantial improvements in domestic manufacturers' technology and output. The lower tariff on inkjet heads helped inkjet press manufacturers reduce production costs.

1. Mainland tariff cuts on five printing press types purchased from Taiwan, China

The Ministry of Commerce announced on its website that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) across the Taiwan Strait officially took effect on September 12, 2010. To let people on both sides benefit as soon as possible, the mainland completed all preparatory work and fully implemented the Early Harvest Program on January 1, 2011.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362109.html