The cut in export duties, due to take effect Dec. 1, will apply to some 3,770 types of exports, or about 28 percent of the total, the country's Cabinet said on its Web site. It said export taxes on steel, chemical products and grain would be eliminated.
The steps are meant to "expand domestic consumption and promote economic stability," the statement said. It said tax cuts apply to labor-intensive goods, electrical products and others "that have been greatly affected," without giving more details of the size of tax cuts or which specific products would be affected.
The move adds to a series of urgent steps taken by Beijing to reverse a sharp downturn in economic growth. China's growth rate fell to 9 percent in the latest quarter — still strong for a major economy, but well below last year's 11.9 percent.
A drop in global demand for Chinese goods has hit exporters hard, prompting layoffs and factory closures.
Alarmed at the prospect of job losses and possible unrest, communist leaders have cut interest rates three times in recent weeks and taken steps to help struggling textile exporters, who were especially hard hit.
Beijing raised export duties on steel earlier in an effort to cool the growth of an industry that it considered too dirty and energy-intensive. But it has repealed those taxes to revive steel export growth as the economy cooled.
The 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package announced Sunday calls for high spending on government construction projects, aid to the poor and farmers and tax cuts for exporters.
The plan calls for speeding up projects that already were planned and depends on Chinese companies for a big share of the spending.
Also Wednesday, the government announced approval of two multibillion-dollar energy projects and a water conservancy project. It said they also were meant to help spur economic growth, though all three projects have been planned for several years.
The energy projects were a 93 billion yuan ($13.6 billion) pipeline to carry natural gas from China's northwest to Hong Kong, a 95.5 billion yuan ($14 billion) expansion of a nuclear power plant in Yangjiang in the southeastern province of Guangdong.
Also approved was a 17.4 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) water conservancy project in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the Cabinet said.
