2025 Flexible Tariff Operation Plan Announced… Implementation from January Next Year
(Sejong = Yonhap News) Reporter Min Kyung-rak – The government has decided to extend the allocation tariff support for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to alleviate the economic burden on ordinary citizens.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance announced on the 2nd that it will pre-announce the legislation of the 2025 flexible tariff operation plan containing these details. The finalized plan will be implemented from January 1st next year.
Allocation tariff is a system where the tariff rate on a predetermined quantity of imports is reduced for a certain period.
The allocation tariff support for LNG used in power generation and city gas will be maintained during the winter season (1st quarter). During this period, the tariff rate will be reduced from 3% to 0%.
The allocation tariff for LPG and crude oil used for manufacturing LPG, which is used for cooking and transportation in rural areas not supplied with city gas, will be extended until the first half of next year, lowering the rate from 3% to 0%. The possibility of further extension in the second half of the year will be reviewed next year.
The allocation tariff on crude oil used for naphtha production will be applied throughout the year.
This measure aims to ease the management difficulties of the petrochemical industry, which is experiencing a significant drop in imports due to global economic uncertainty and structural oversupply.
To support competitiveness in the semiconductor and display sectors, five items including organic material deposition masks (FMS) will also be added to the allocation tariff list.
In the secondary battery sector, new allocation tariffs will be applied to lithium hydroxide and adsorbents.
Allocation tariff support will be maintained for food raw materials such as corn (for processing), soybeans, sugar, and potato starch, amid concerns over price increases due to supply shortages.
Seven items, including cacao beans, coffee, orange concentrate, radish, and carrots, which are provided with emergency allocation tariffs due to price instability, will continue to be supported with regular allocation tariffs.
Adjustment tariffs will be applied to 13 items, such as gochujang, live sea bream, and frozen pollock, similar to this year. Adjustment tariffs are a system of increasing tariff rates to prevent disturbances in the domestic market and protect the industrial base.
Special emergency tariffs, applied to cope with a surge in imports, will cover 16 categories of rice products and 24 types of ginseng products.
Market access quantity (TRQ) increases to ensure stable supply and demand for agricultural products with high external dependence will be supported for 15 items including sesame, red beans, mung beans, and malt, but the scale will be slightly reduced compared to this year (from 540,000 to 480,000 tons).