The Dream Factory of China

Source :Shenzhen Daily

China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qianhai & Shekou Area of Shenzhen reported its foreign trade surged 57.4 percent year on year to reach 723.5 billion yuan (US$111.7 billion) in the first half of this year (H1), Shenzhen Customs said yesterday.

The trade volume increase was attributed to the growth of cross-border e-commerce, implementation of customs facilitation measures and incentives to support exports, and optimization of custom supervision, the customs said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many China Duty Free Group’s shops at border checkpoints were closed, but the services at distribution centers of duty-free products in Qianhai provided a platform for the company’s import and export business.

Since May last year, Shekou Customs piloted warehouse supervision mode for China Duty Free Group to engage in global procurements at Qianhai Comprehensive Bonded Zone. The duty-free shop’s trade, which started from scratch, has grown exponentially. In April this year, Shenzhen Duty Free Group also settled business in the bonded zone for global procurements.

In addition, Shekou Customs helped build e-commerce whole chain through the service of Sino-Europe freight trains.

In H1, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in the zone increased by 161.3 percent.

In December last year, Honor, a leading smartphone brand under Huawei Group, started business in the zone, engaging in the trading of integrated circuits and other ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) related spare parts. Its imports through the zone reached 6 billion yuan in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen Customs has launched a number of innovative measures to promote the speed and efficiency of customs clearance in the port area, such as the two-step customs declaration mode and cross-port allocation of barges that shortened customs clearance process by up to six hours on average.

The simplified customs declaration procedures save trade companies time and money, hence attracting an increasing number of businesses to do import and export through Qianhai.