China’s Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Taxation Administration, has announced amendments to Value-Added Tax (VAT) policies for wind power and other industries. Housed within other industries includes the cancellation of the 13% VAT exemption on platinum and platinum products at the import stage from 1 November 2025.Since 2003, Chinese platinum imports have benefitted from a VAT exemption which allowed for instant VAT refunds for platinum purchase through the SGE. In response to the changes to these tax policies, the SGE’s platinum price premium to international prices has increased to ~14%, versus an historic average premium of ~3%.The SGE premium appears likely to widen further. Notably, applying VAT on SGE sales will align primary markets with the tax treatment on secondary OTC sales. Notwithstanding the alignment of tax treatments, platinum costs appear set to rise which may in turn negatively impact China’s historically price sensitive platinum demand.Figure 1. SGE platinum price will likely increase from the average of 3.7% above international spot to closer to 13%Source: Bloomberg, WPIC Research, data to 21/10/2025