Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") and the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") have jointly issued the Announcement on the Redistribution of 2019 Import Tariff Quotas for Agricultural Products (the "Announcement").
According to the Announcement, if an ultimate user holding the 2019 import tariff quota for wheat, corn, rice, cotton or sugar fails to enter into import contracts covering the full amount of such quota in the current year, or has signed such import contracts but the goods are expected not to be shipped from the port of departure before the end of the current year, such user shall return the part of the quota which is not covered or cannot be covered to the provincial development and reform commission and the provincial competent authority of commerce at its locality by September 15, 2019. The NDRC and the MOFCOM will redistribute such returned quotas. Also, the Announcement states that, ultimate users who have obtained and used up the 2019 import tariff quotas for commodities listed in Article 1 of this Announcement may apply for obtaining the redistributed import tariff quotas, adding that applicants shall file written applications for this purpose to the provincial development and reform commission and the provincial competent authority of commerce at its locality between September 1, 2019 and September 15, 2019.