Jan 1 marked the one-year anniversary of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, which is the world's largest trading bloc.

According to Xiamen Customs, it issued 17,757 RCEP certificates of origin to 741 export enterprises in 2022, with a total value of about 7.27 billion yuan ($1.06 billion). As a result, these enterprises are set to enjoy a tariff reduction bonanza worth over 70 million yuan. The main products benefiting from RCEP include aluminum products, inorganic chemicals, umbrellas and shoes.

To promote the benefits of RCEP's policies to more foreign trade enterprises, Xiamen Customs carried out extensive publicity of the tariff reductions. It also promoted the RCEP rules of origin and other policies to key enterprises through a combination of online and on-site methods.

In addition, Xiamen Customs targeted helping companies sort out their lists of tariff concessions for key products compared with their actual needs.

Since the RCEP agreement took effect last year, Xiamen's export enterprises have responded with great enthusiasm. For example, on Dec 31, 2022 Xtc New Energy Materials (Xiamen) Co Ltd got a nice surprise while exporting a batch of terpolymer materials to Japan. Thanks to a RCEP policy, the tariff in Japan was reduced from 3.3 percent to 2.7 percent for the batch of materials.

A bird's-eye view of Xiamen Port. [Photo/ Xiamen Daily]