Starting Nov. 1, the Chinese government started paying equipment manufacturers a 17 percent subsidy on plastic machinery exports in the form of “tax refund.”
The policy change is expected to support exports of injection molding, extrusion, blow molding and other types of plastics processing machinery, industry sources told Plastics News.
The refund rate has fluctuated in the past decade, starting at 17 percent, then dropping to 15 percent, then 14 percent, back to 15 percent, and now back to 17 percent.
China's exports of plastic machinery increased 4.9 percent to $1.5 billion in the first nine months of 2016, according to data from China's customs department. During the same period, imports dropped 14.8 percent to $1 billion.
China's trade surplus of plastic machinery during the first three quarters stands at $423.95 million.
Broken out by machinery type, in the first nine months of 2016:
• China's imports of injection molding presses dipped by 19.8 percent, by value, while exports rose 1.8 percent.
• Extrusion equipment imports shrank by 12.7 percent, while exports rose 7.2 percent.
• Blow molding machinery imports dropped by 26.9 percent, while exports rose 10.2 percent.