"Commodities are more competitive and confident in expanding exports" - RCEP dividend benefits Zhejiang enterprises

"During the Spring Festival, orders from foreign customers are still pouring in one after another." According to Gu Lili, the foreign trade manager of Zhejiang Jiayi Thermal Insulation Technology Co., Ltd., the current priority of enterprises is to speed up the production of export orders and sell the produced thermal insulation cups to the Asian and European markets. At present, the employees of the company are returning to work one after another. After the factory starts, the multiple automatic production lines of the intelligent production workshop will be fully powered up to speed up the construction period, speed up the progress and busy production to ensure the realization of "a good start".
"At the beginning of 2022, our company had the honor to apply for the first RCEP certificate of origin in the province. The tax rate of our insulating cups exported to Japan was adjusted from 3.9% to 3.2%, and we enjoyed a tariff reduction of more than 200000 yuan for the whole year." Gu Lili said, "This year the tax rate was reduced to 2.8%, and the degree of enjoyment was increasing, which made our products more competitive and confident of further expanding exports."
The reporter learned from Hangzhou Customs that since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into force more than a year ago, Hangzhou Customs has issued 52800 RCEP certificates of origin for 2346 enterprises under its jurisdiction, with a value of 19.845 billion yuan, helping enterprises enjoy 1.204 billion yuan of preferential imports, and realizing a tax reduction of about 217 million yuan for import and export goods in Zhejiang Province.
The export of many Zhejiang characteristic products to RCEP countries increased significantly. Edible fungi is the fourth largest agricultural industry in Zhejiang Province, mainly exported to Japan, South Korea and other RCEP countries. Lishui is an important production area, and the continuous release of RCEP policy dividend brings opportunities for the export of local edible mushrooms. At present, Japan has cut the import tariff of edible fungi under the RCEP for two consecutive times, and the tariff rate has been reduced from 9% to 7.4%. Under the dividend of the RCEP policy, the tariff will be gradually reduced to zero within 10 years, and the benefits enjoyed by enterprises will be superimposed year by year. According to the statistics of Hangzhou Customs, Zhejiang's edible fungus export to Japan will be 120 million yuan in 2022, up 1.6% year on year.
"In 2022, the export of edible fungi of our company reached a new high, and the export to Japan increased by more than 60%. With the help of the RCEP policy, our company's export share to Japan is expected to further expand." Zheng Xiangxiang, a salesman of Zhejiang Jingning Nature Food Co., Ltd., said. In 2022, the company applied for 66 RCEP certificates of origin, involving an amount of 20.8332 million yuan, saving nearly 33000 yuan in tariff costs.
The implementation and effectiveness of RCEP has also brought many import enterprises preferential treatment to reduce the import cost of raw materials. Xinfengming Group Co., Ltd., located in Tongxiang, is a large chemical fiber group enterprise. Spinning oil is an important production additive of the company, with a large annual use. Japan is the main source country of the company's spinning oil.
Before the entry into force of RCEP, the Group was required to pay 10% of the import tariff for this product. After the entry into force of RCEP, the import tariff of spinning finishes originating in Japan decreased year by year.
By querying the tax rate of the free trade agreement on the "RCEP intelligent preferential service platform" developed by Hangzhou Customs, Gao Guoping, the head of the Foreign Trade Affairs Section of Xinfengming Group Co., Ltd., quickly found the tax reduction rules including the RCEP and other free trade agreements, helping enterprises choose the "best solution" for export preferential treatment.
In the past year, Xinfengming Group has imported about 380 million yuan of spinning oil from Japan, with a reduction of about 3.58 million yuan of import tax on RCEP. "The reduction of import costs has indirectly improved the price competitiveness of our exported products in the international market." Gao Guoping said that enterprises should make full use of the opportunities of RCEP policy and expand the international "circle of friends".