China will raise export taxes on oil, steel and nonferrous metals next month as the nation seeks to ease the country's record trade surplus and meet domestic demand for commodities, Bloomberg News reported.

China will raise export taxes on copper, nickel, aluminum, crude oil, coal and coke and cut import tariffs for alumina, a raw material, the Ministry of Finance said on its Website yesterday. The adjustments will help lower shipments of energy-consuming products, it said.

The policy change is the second set of measures in two months aimed at reducing the country's trade imbalance, an issue of contention between China and the United States. China is the world's largest coal exporter and biggest producer of steel. "The government is further curbing exports of energy intensive industries such as aluminum, and trying to balance domestic demand and supply by restructuring the industries," Sunny Li at Pinpoint Asset Management Co, said.

China had its second-largest ever trade surplus of US$15.3 billion in last month after exports climbed. The ballooning surplus helped drive economic growth of 10.7 percent in the first three quarters.

The government will increase export taxes on copper, nickel, aluminum, and metal products to 15 percent from as high as 10 percent, the ministry said. It will introduce an export tax of five percent on crude oil, coal and coke while import taxes for alumina, the raw material for making aluminum metal, will be cut to three percent from 5.5 percent.

China last cut export incentives for steel and textiles on September 15.

The latest policy may cut sales at companies such as Angang New Steel Co, the nation's biggest steel products exporter, and China Hailiang Group Corp, the No. 1 copper tube maker and exporter.

Export taxes on pig iron, steel billet and semi-finished steel products will climb to 10 percent from zero, according to the ministry.

Export tax for metal ores and rare earth was raised to 10 percent.

"These policies are aimed at curbing exports of those low-value-added, semi-finished or raw materials-heavy product," said Lu Yizhen, head of research at Citic-Prudential Fund Management Co in Shanghai. "Overall exports are unlikely to be affected much because these types of exports have been on the decline anyway."

Separately, China will cut import tax of gasoline and aviation kerosene to 2 percent from 5 percent and light diesel to 2 percent from 6 percent, the ministry said.

Import tax on coal will be cut to 1 percent from between 3 percent and 5 percent.

Editor: Yan