Foreign trade in the city of Zibo – located in East China's Shandong province – hit 64.93 billion yuan ($9.47 billion) in the first seven months of the current year, up 4.3 percent on the previous corresponding period.
According to the latest statistics in July alone, the value of the city's total imports and exports was 9.76 billion yuan, up 22.9 percent year-on-year. Of that, imports totaled 3.87 billion yuan, up 108.1 percent year-on-year, achieving a new breakthrough.
Since the regional RCEP trade agreement took effect on Jan 1 this year – an accord which has reduced tariffs between Asia-Pacific members, including China – the import and export business of Zibo Customs to RCEP member countries has expanded rapidly.
The foreign trade with Zibo to RCEP member countries reached 23.02 billion yuan in the first seven months – up 35.6 percent and accounting for 35.5 percent of the total imports and exports.
Under the roll-out of the RCEP trade agreement, tariffs are either being substantially reduced or going to zero between members, providing local import and export enterprises with a keen advantage in international competition.
For example, the tariff on the main products of Shandong Head Co Ltd – a leading supplier of cellulose ether – was cut from 3.1 percent to 2.5 percent after it received a RCEP certificate of origin. As a result, the group is moving to expand its foreign trade.
During the same period, the total value of imports and exports of Zibo Customs to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 31.31 billion yuan, up 25.8 percent year-on-year.
Elsewhere, imports and exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – or the ASEAN trading bloc – reached 14.46 billion yuan during the period, up 47 percent year-on-year, 42.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade in Zibo.
Apart from the fields of electrical products, organic chemicals, glass and related products – as well as ceramics products – the city's exports of agricultural products also did well. Imports and exports in the general and processing trade hit 55.64 billion yuan and 5.92 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 11.7 percent and 14.7 percent.
In addition, Zibo Customs has surveyed key enterprises and released 17 measures to solve practical difficulties and extend the growth in foreign trade.
