On December 27, 2021, under the supervision of Weifang Customs, 8 containers of green Chinese onions and red onions from Weifang Wantong Food Co., Ltd. (Wantong Food or the Company for short) successfully got through the customs clearance after experiencing less than 6 hours of inspection. “Although RCEP has not yet come into force, we begin to enjoy benefits from RCEP,” said Gao Xindong, general manager of Wantong Food. He noted that Wantong Food specializes in export of green onions to Japan and South Korea, and the Company has ultrahigh requirements for transport timeliness as its products are perishable and subject to deterioration. If delivery of a batch of products is postponed for some hours in any transport link, the products might be rejected and returned for their failure to comply with standard.

“According to RCEP, participating countries of RCEP shall get through customs clearance within 6 hours in case of export of perishable products. In late 2020, the Company spent about 8 hours in getting through customs clearance when exporting agricultural products. Thanks to a series of reforms by the customs side, customs clearance within 6 hours has been realized, which will greatly benefit enterprises that specialize in export of fresh agricultural products,” Gao Xindong was quoted as saying.

On January 1, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially took effect in 10 participating countries including Singapore, China, and Japan, etc. Liu Sai, director of the Statistics and Analysis Office of Jinan Customs, said that in the first 11 months of 2021, Shandong Province’s foreign trade value with other RCEP participating countries totaled CNY 937.19 billion, up 35.4% YoY. Among which, the export value totaled CNY 537.48 billion, up 28.9%, and the import value totaled CNY 399.71 billion, up 45.2% YoY. “After RCEP takes effect, economic integration between China and other RCEP participating countries will be further boosted, which will inject new vigor in the regional integration of East Asia and directly affect Shandong Province’s opening-up pattern,” noted Liu Sai.

“Shandong Province should give special attention to the first free trade arrangement that is entered into by China and Japan after RCEP takes effect,” Li Guangjie, head of the International Economy and Politics Research Institute of Shandong Academy of Social Sciences, noted that according to RCEP, China’s tariff on 86% of Japanese products will drop to zero in the long run, of which, the tariff on 25% of Japanese products will drop to zero as soon as RCEP takes effect. Also, Japan’s tariff on 88% of Chinese products will drop to zero in the long run, of which the tariff on 57% of Chinese products will drop to zero as soon as RCEP takes effect. This is undoubtedly a significant opportunity for Shandong, a province near Japan.

Shandong Zhongdi Import & Export Co., Ltd. (the Company for short) is an enterprise specializing in export of textile products to Japan, and its products ranked Top 3 in Japanese market all year around. According to General Manager of Zhongdi Zhao Guoliang, textile products in Japanese market mainly came from Japan and SE Asia before.

“After RCEP takes effect, our products will enjoy Japan’s tax reduction policy little by little”, Zhao Guoliang said, adding that based on its yearly export value of US$ 80 million to Japan, the Company will save tariff by RMB 4 million in the year when RCEP takes effect. What’s more, the tariff will decline to zero after 10 years, so the Company’s expenditure will be greatly saved. “We will export a batch of products to Japan from the Qingdao Port on January 1, and this batch of products will enjoy the tariff reduction policy.”

Zhongdi is among these enterprises benefiting from RCEP. According to Director of the Tariff Office of Qingdao Customs Bi Haijun, Shandong Province and Japan are geographically near and economically merged to each other. According to Shandong Province’s data statistics on the static trade to Japan in 2020, Shandong Province will enjoy Japan’s tariff reduction of about CNY380 million for export of products in the first year when RCEP takes effect. After the tariff reduction schedule of RCEP is completed, tariff on Shandong Province’s import of commodities from Japan will decrease by about CNY 900 million. “That will lay a firm foundation for growth of foreign trade of Shandong that hit historical highs in succession this year.”

To seize opportunities from RCEP, Shandong Province has first enacted the Early Action Plan for implementation of RCEP, in order to guide agricultural products export enterprises in Shandong Province to take good advantage of China and Japan’s commitments on reduction of tariff for agricultural products. Besides that, Shandong Province will create the list of key commodities and enterprises for export, and stress the market exploitation. “We have successively organized a series of exchange activities including Japan, South Korea and RCEP Regional Import Fair, Shandong Tour for China-Japan-Korea Cooperation and Development, and China-Japan Exchange Conference for Industrial Innovation and Development, etc., in order to assist Shandong enterprises in further exploiting Japanese market. After RCEP takes effect, we will keep enhancing the exchange with Japan, and intensifying the publicity of policies among enterprises, in order to make more enterprises know RCEP policies and seize RCEP opportunities,” said Wang Hong, director of Foreign Trade Office of the Department of Commerce of Shandong Province.