A bird's-eye view of a ship full of containers sailing off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo/WeChat account: xiamen_swj]
Xiamen in Fujian province issued 78,600 certificates of origin worth 35.5 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) under various free trade agreements (FTAs) to exporters in the first half of 2022, an increase of 9.78 percent and 33.05 percent, respectively, according to statistics from Xiamen Customs.
The certificates are estimated to reduce 1.77 billion yuan in tariffs for Xiamen exporters.
Of which, Xiamen Customs issued 5,107 RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) certificates of origin to 332 Xiamen exporters for products worth about 2.38 billion yuan.
These exporters are estimated to enjoy over 23 million yuan in tariff reductions for products such as umbrellas, aluminum structures, and shoes in the importing countries.
Since the RCEP agreement took effect in January this year, Xiamen exporters have enjoyed many new opportunities to go global.
Taking chemical products as an example, 99 percent of China's chemical products are given zero-tariff treatment in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Australia.
In addition, the RCEP rules of origin has established the judgement standard of origin and made importing raw materials more flexible, which facilitates relevant producers to undertake processing incoming materials in order to boost the development of high-quality brands that are "made-in-China".
Xiamen has also launched a RCEP public service platform in March that offers one-stop services to Xiamen enterprises to benefit from the RCEP agreement.
China has decided to extend its visa waiver policy to ordinary passport holders from Canada and the United Kingdom starting from Feb 17.
Forty-one new port-of-entry duty-free shops have been established nationwide, with Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, Xiamen Wutong Passenger Wharf, and Xiamen International Cruise Center included on the list.
