Due to gloomy import and export prospects, China's tariff revenue, which has shown many years of consecutive annual growth, is faced with serious challenges this year, according to the website of China's General Administration of Customs (CGAC).

CGAC announced on January 14 that China's total tariff revenue for 2008 was 916.11 billion yuan, up by 157.64 billion yuan or 20.8 percent from 2007. However, tariff revenue experienced a drop in the fourth quarter of the last year due to the impact of the international financial crisis.

China's tariff revenue mainly comes from general trade imports. Because of the downward trend of reduced imports, because of the dramatic decline of prices in the energy and mining industries, which are major sources of this year's tariff revenue, and because of the gradual appearance of the negative effects from policy adjustments such as the raising of export rebate rates and the adjusting of export tariffs, 2009 could be the most severe year for tariff collection in the past three decades.

By People's Daily Online