April 21st, 2020 marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Guangdong pilot free trade zone (FTZ). During the past 5 years, Guangdong customs have launched a number of reform items to help the FTZ in exploring new economic mechanisms, establishing a high-level hub for open trade policy and deepening Guangdong's cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao.

Nansha Passenger Port. (Photo by Nanfang Plus)

Since 2015, a total of 298,000 enterprises have been set up in the Guangdong FTZ, making it the nation's top FTZ. 57 innovative customs supervision policies have been promoted province-wide.

According to statistics from the Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs, the Guangdong FTZ saw 82.694 billion yuan of foreign trade import and export in Q1 this year, a year-on-year increase of 33.94%, which is much higher than that of the rest of the province during the same period.

Cross border e-commerce import increased by 31% in Q1

Qianhai & Shekou area of Guangdong FTZ.(Photo by Nanfang Plus)

Thanks to innovative supervision policies, Shenzhen Da Chang Sheng Information Technology Co., Ltd., located in Qianhai free trade port, has achieved better export figures. Zeng Li, chairman of Da Chang Sheng, explained that both the time and cost required customs clearance has been greatly reduced. The cost of a vehicle carrying 10 tons of cargo used to be 15,000 yuan, whereas now it is down to only 5,000 yuan due to the reduction in time need for customs clearance.

In addition, ‘overseas shopping’ is leading to a boom in imports. In 2019, the import figures from the FTZ reached 19.8 billion yuan, an increase of 34.1% year-on-year. A further 4.67 billion yuan in Q1 this year, which is a year-on-year increase of 30.9%.

Continued innovation in policy has attracted lots of enterprises to settle in Guangdong FTZ. At the beginning of 2015, the number of registered enterprises was only 2,000, increasing to 13,800 in 2020.

The total import and export volume of Nansha and Qianhaiwan free trade ports increased from 76.69 billion yuan in 2015 to over 202 billion yuan in 2019, and the total import and export volume of foreign trade is 1.6 times greater.

Inspection time of Guangdong and Hong Kong ports shortened to 3 hours

Xie Yue, deputy director of of the free trade department of the Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs, said that the deepening of cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao is the Guangdong FTZ’s greatest asset. With more and more cooperation between the three places, a raft of convenient measures have been implemented, such as rapid customs clearance and free passage for Hong Kong and Macao yachts.

One of the highlights is promoting mutual recognition of inspection and testing results between Guangdong and Hong Kong. Guangdong customs acknowledge the origin, health certification and risk monitoring results of Hong Kong and Macao food products which meet ‘CEPA standards’. As a result, the time needed to clear customs will be reduced from over 11 days to a mere 3 hours.

(Photo by Nanfang Plus)

Gongbei customs has supported Hengqin port in realizing 24-hour customs clearance. In 2019, the number of passengers entering and exiting at Hengqin port was 8.924 million. Furthermore Macao registered vehicles can now enter Hengqin more conveniently.

Shenzhen customs has set up ‘departure air service centers’ at Qianhai free trade port. Companies are able to complete all relevant procedures including booking, tallying and boarding at the center, and their freight will be directly sent to Hong Kong or other domestic airports.

Currently, more than 6,300 tons of goods (with the value of over 6.3 billion yuan) have been imported and exported through Qianhai. The average time needed has been reduced by a sizeable 6-8 hours, leading to a 30% reduction in logistics costs.

Authors: Will, Zoey (intern)

Editor: Simon