Jun 4, 2007

China is likely to set limits on imports of key petrochemical plant equipment as the government aims to encourage use of domestically made machinery, the Economic Observer reported over the weekend.

Citing an unnamed official involved in drafting the policy, the newspaper said a draft decree has been sent out to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), and that final regulations "will be released soon".

The efforts are aimed at increasing the proportion of domestically-produced equipment to safeguard industry security, according to the newspaper reports.

The government will release a specific guideline and a catalog on permissible items of petrochemical equipment imports, and will also introduce tax measures to encourage use of locally made machinery, said the report.

China imports at least 75 bln yuan worth of petrochemical equipments every year, according to the report [FXstreet.com News].