As of Tuesday, Shenzhen Customs had issued a total of 1,076 certificates of origin involving goods worth 230 million yuan (US$36.17 million) and helped reduce 12.42 million yuan in tariffs for exports under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), data from Shenzhen Customs showed yesterday.
And the tariff reduction for imports under the RCEP had amounted to 1.54 million yuan as of Tuesday.
In the first month of the year, Shenzhen Chuanggong Imports and Exports Co. Ltd. applied for 64 certificates of origin for exporting electrical and mechanical products worth 13.65 million yuan to Thailand and Japan. The certificates helped them reduce 682,900 yuan in tariffs, thus lowering costs and increased the company’s competitiveness.
RCEP was signed Nov. 15, 2020 by 15 Asia-Pacific countries, which consist of 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand – after eight years of negotiations that started in 2012.
The deal initially came into force in 10 countries that have submitted their instruments of ratification with the ASEAN Secretariat starting January this year.
The new free trade bloc, covering nearly a third of the world’s population and accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s GDP, aims to facilitate trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region and boost economic globalization.
After the agreement took effect, over 90 percent of merchandise trade among member countries that have approved the agreement will eventually be subjected to zero tariffs.
In another development, Shenzhen Customs said the first Sino-Laos freight train in 2022 left Pinghu International Logistics Hub on Feb. 1, the Spring Festival, carrying 650 tons of unbaked malt.
For the operation of Sino-Laos freight trains, Shenzhen Customs adopted a mechanism of on-site supervision and online reservation to enable export cargo to be handled efficiently and supported the city to be one of the first batch of cities in China operating Sino-Laos trains. Shenzhen plays a role as an international transport hub for cargo transportation between Europe and the ASEAN.
In January, Shenzhen operated four Sino-Europe trains carrying freights valued at 370 million yuan. So far, these trains have transported products from 2,928 enterprises to 38 countries in both continents.