最低限度的棉花免税进口 中国将减少进口棉花
China will allow only the bare minimum tax-free imports of cotton next year as it tries to come to grips with a mountain of state reserves, adding to the pressure on cotton prices already damped by a bumper US harvest.
正在对付国家储备过剩的中国明年将只允许最低限度的棉花免税进口。此举将加大棉花价格的下行压力，棉价本已受到美国大丰收的抑制。
China is obliged to allow its mills to import 894,000 tonnes of cotton tax-free every year, under terms negotiated when it joined the WTO. Normally the country’s central planner also issues additional quotas to textile mills, after some delays designed to force them to purchase cotton grown domestically.
根据中国加入世界贸易组织(WTO)时谈判达成的条款，中国必须允许国内纺织厂每年免税进口89.4万吨棉花。通常中国的中央规划机构还向纺织厂增发进口配额，而迫使纺织厂购买国产棉花的措施在实施上有一些延迟。For 2015, only the minimum quotas will be issued, Liu Xiaonan, vice-director of the economy and trade department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday.
国家发改委(NDRC)经贸司副司长刘小南昨日表示，2015年将只发放最低限度的配额。
After three years of buying cotton at above market prices, China is groaning under the weight of reserves it must gradually sell down, while avoiding depressing prices so much that Chinese farmers stop planting cotton altogether.
在连续三年以高于市场价的价格收购棉花后，中国正为过剩的棉花储备伤脑筋。政府必须逐渐卖掉过剩的棉花，同时又必须避免大幅压低棉价，以免中国农民完全停止种植棉花。“All of China’s state reserves are too high. This creates a lot of side effects, the results aren’t good,” said Ma Wenfeng, of Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant.
“中国所有的国家棉花储备库都存在过剩。这造成了很多副作用，效果不好，”北京东方艾格农业咨询公司(Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant)的马文峰表示。Mills may choose to import without quotas if international prices are low enough to make it profitable after a 40 per cent tax on non-quota imports. That is the case at current prices, even after Chinese cotton futures hit a four-year low yesterday of Rmb12,960 a tonne, equivalent to 96 cents a pound. ICE October cotton futures traded at 65 cents a pound yesterday after hitting a five-year low in August. So far this year cotton prices are down 27 per cent.
纺织厂仍可能选择在没有配额的情况下进口棉花，前提是国际棉价足够低，使得无配额进口在缴付40%的税后仍可盈利。当前的国际棉价就是这样的情况，尽管中国期棉价格昨日跌至每吨12960元人民币（相当于每磅96美分）的四年低点。洲际交易所(ICE)的10月期棉价格昨日为每磅65美分，8月份一度跌至五年低点。今年以来，棉价累计下跌了27%。
