Abstract：Recently, "durian price diving" has been rushing to the hot search. In the Harbin market, durians with less than 20 yuan per catty also appear frequently. People may not think that behind the gradual realization of durian freedom, there is such
Recently, "durian price diving" has been rushing to the hot search. In the Harbin market, durians with less than 20 yuan per catty also appear frequently. People may not think that behind the gradual realization of durian freedom, there is such a name - the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
On January 1, 2024, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will celebrate its second anniversary of its entry into force. For Heilongjiang people, the significance is far more than eating Southeast Asian fruits at affordable prices, and Longjiang's export-oriented enterprises have grabbed the RCEP free ride and enjoyed the policy dividends.
According to the data, only in 1~4 months this year, Harbin Customs issued a total of 482 RCEP certificates of origin, with a visa amount of 128 million yuan, which can help export enterprises enjoy tariff concessions of about 4.883 million yuan in importing countries.
Embrace the vast "circle of friends"
On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially came into force, giving birth to the world's largest free trade area. In June 2023, with the official entry into force of RCEP for the Philippines, it marks the full entry into force of RCEP for 15 signatory countries. The entry into force of the 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as the free trade agreement with the largest population, the most diverse membership, the largest economic and trade scale and the most development potential in the world, has created new opportunities for the deepening and development of regional cooperation.
At the 2024 Heilongjiang Provincial RCEP Business Training Course hosted by the Provincial Department of Commerce a few days ago, relevant experts from the Ministry of Commerce explained in detail how to make good use of RCEP rules and expand diversified international markets. The RCEP has a multifaceted role in promoting import and export trade, including reducing tariffs, gradually implementing zero tariffs on 90% of goods, and expanding the opening up of trade in the service industry. These measures have directly reduced the cost of import and export trade between member countries and reduced trade barriers.
Taking agricultural trade as an example, temperate fruits such as apples and pears in China are very popular in Southeast Asian countries, while durians, bananas and mangoes in Southeast Asian countries have a vast domestic market. Originally, limited by transportation, warehousing and other conditions, the scale of agricultural trade was far from meeting market demand. However, with the full entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a number of interconnection projects have been stepped up, the cross-border cold chain logistics system and e-commerce platform have developed rapidly, and various customs clearance facilitation conditions and measures have been continuously introduced, making it more efficient and convenient for ASEAN fruits such as durian to enter the Chinese market.
Foreign trade enterprises enjoy dividends
A few days ago, Heilongjiang Hengyuan Food Co., Ltd. successfully applied for an RCEP certificate of origin from Jiamusi Customs, a subsidiary of Harbin Customs, through the "single window" of China's international trade, with a visa amount of 453,000 yuan, and enterprises can enjoy tariff concessions of about 14,000 yuan from the importing country.
"Our company is mainly engaged in the production and processing of agricultural products such as white melon seeds, and export products account for more than 90%. Since the implementation of RCEP, the customs has visited enterprises many times to help us understand and grasp the preferential terms of the agreement, and save tariffs by applying for a certificate of origin, so as to reduce costs, expand price advantages, and improve the competitiveness of local products in the international market. Cao Yu, the company's business manager, said.
Since February 2022, Heilongjiang Sante Textile and Garment Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. has applied for more than 570 certificates of origin. According to Li Honghui, business manager, RCEP can be simply understood as "the passport of goods", which is an important certificate for goods to enjoy tax incentives in accordance with the law. For importers, they must have a certificate of origin in order to enjoy the preferential treatment of most-favored-nation tariffs or even duty-free policies. Benefiting from the RCEP dividend, the tariff rate of the company's suits has been reduced from 9.1% to 6.7% in Japan, and has been decreasing year by year, which makes their products more competitive in overseas markets. In the future, other customers will also give priority to enterprises with RCEP certificates when choosing cooperation partners.
Multi-party efforts to improve utilization
According to the data, the province's trade with other RCEP member countries has maintained rapid growth, reaching 26.15 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%. However, it should also be noted that due to the short implementation time, many enterprises are not familiar with the application of RCEP rules and the application of certificates of origin to reduce customs clearance costs, and it is still necessary to accelerate the utilization of RCEP rules.
Since the RCEP came into effect in January 2022, it has actively cooperated with the overall arrangement of the Ministry of Commerce, seized the opportunity of RCEP, and carried out a series of innovative practices based on its own characteristics, forming a number of beneficial case experiences. The Provincial Department of Commerce organized a number of training sessions and released the "List of Advantageous Products for import and Export under RCEP in Heilongjiang Province", which accurately targeted the most advantageous import and export products in Heilongjiang Province and encouraged enterprises to tap their potential and explore new overseas market opportunities. Harbin Customs and other departments have guided enterprises to make full use of the policy through tariff policy presentations, brochure distribution, and the establishment of RCEP service windows at business sites.
More and more foreign trade enterprises have a strong willingness to use RCEP rules. At the 2024 Heilongjiang RCEP business training course, the participating enterprises have expressed that they will carefully study the country-specific tariff concessions between enterprises and RCEP member countries according to their own business development direction, make use of national policies, make use of the accumulated rules of origin, attract competitive investors to carry out cooperation, and push enterprise production and services to the high end of the value chain.