Artwork Imports Continue to Increase Rapidly

Artwork is an important part of social culture, artwork trade has an important influence on the healthy and sustainable development of cultural trade. In the process of building a culture of powers, the expansion of imports of artwork can improve the level of internationalization of the art market, which has strategic significance. Customs Information Network data shows that artwork imports sharply increase in recent years, from 2004 $7 million increasingly to 2013 $771 million, with an average annual growth rate of 69.85%, in which 2013 growth rate is as high as 776.56% .

From January to July this year, China imported $359 million of artwork, which increased by 69.63% from a year earlier. The data was essentially flat with the average growth rate in recent years, but was significantly lower than the growth rate of 248.36% over the same period last year level. January-July imports of artworks show the following characteristics: 

(A) significant changes in the commodity structure, painting surges sculpture dips 

(B) The sources of artwork import were highly concentrated, ASEAN topped, Hong Kong and Taiwan, mainland China and Switzerland increased fast.

(C)Shanghai and Hunan were involved in the process of distribution of imports of artworks, before only Liaoning involved.


(D)customs supervision based, processing trade and general trade gradually expanded. 
 
(E) private enterprises as the main import of artworks

Artwork, as a cultural product, is with a certain particularity compared with other general merchandise imports, countries often takes different trade policy for artwork trade, general merchandise policy is "encourage exports and restrict imports," on the contrary, most countries take "encourage imports, limiting exports" policy regarding part of artworks. In 2012 China decreased import tariffs on three types of artworks from 12% to 6%, promoting the growth of imports, but compared with zero tariffs in the United States, Britain, Switzerland, Hong Kong and other major importing countries of works of art, the tariff is still the main factor in constraints of our imported artwork.

In the case of releasing the domestic demand for artworks, tariff adjustments may become an important factor that animates domestic art market and promotes the artwork finance, artwork insurance, artwork consulting, artwork assessment, logistics and other new services development. (www.chinainout.com)