On November 10, more than 500 tons of imported antimony gold concentrates were transported from Australia to Qinzhou Port in Guangxi by sea, and then to Huaihua by rail. To deliver the concentrates as soon as possible, staff members of Huaihua Customs District worked overtime to go through the customs clearance procedures that night, with the cooperation of Huaihua International Land Port Development Co., Ltd.

In 2022, Huaihua firmly acts on the requirements of “controlling the pandemic, stabilizing economy and maintaining development security”. Placing emphasis on both coronavirus containment and economic development, the city has taken multiple measures to ensure stable foreign trade, and thus achieved remarkable results. Specifically, in the first ten months of the year, the total import and export value of Huaihua reached RMB3.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 121.8%, ranking first in Hunan Province. The number of foreign trade enterprises registered 110, a year-on-year increase of 41%.

Relying on the advantages of the Huaihua International Land Port, ASEAN freight assembly center and New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, Huaihua has vigorously promoted the three actions for the innovative development of foreign trade entities. The city has introduced 21 foreign trade entity projects, with a total investment of RMB2,375 million. After these projects are completed and put into operation, it is expected to increase the import and export value by RMB600 million. The city has advanced the integrated development of industry and trade. It helped Tian Tian Fen Ye Co., Ltd., Jiahui Group and other local domestic trade enterprises to develop foreign trade business. Thanks to these efforts, the city has 32 new foreign trade enterprises. The city has actively reported to and aligned itself with the Ministry of Commerce and Department of Commerce of Hunan Province. It applied for recognition as a key place undertaking the transfer of national processing trade industry as well as pilot city for national second-hand car export, among other projects. It has also made strong moves to advance the development of new forms and models of foreign trade, such as cross-border e-commerce, market procurement, and comprehensive foreign trade services.

Huaihua has worked to explore the RCEP market, the ASEAN market in particular. It signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership and Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing the ASEAN-oriented Green Agricultural Product Industrial Cooperation and Development Center with the China-ASEAN Business Council, and successively held a series of matchmaking activities such as the First RCEP Openness and Cooperation Forum in Huaihua and China (Huaihua) – ASEAN Green Agricultural Products Matchmaking Conference, with good results achieved. Hunan chambers of commerce of the seven ASEAN countries (including Thailand, Laos and Philippines) have established trade companies in Huaihua, of which Lumeng Company and Mengmeng Company have started their foreign trade business.

Huaihua has kept improving its foreign trade environment. It released the Several Measures of Huaihua for Promoting High-quality Development of Foreign Trade and Business, in a bid to support the introduction of foreign trade enterprises, exploit the international market, and develop cross-border e-commerce. It led Huaihua Customs District, Huaihua Municipal Tax Service and other departments to carry out foreign trade surveys, through which it comprehensively understood the problems and difficulties faced by foreign trade enterprises in their operation, and therefore effectively helped these enterprises address export rebate and other issues. It carried out four foreign trade business training sessions on the entry into force of RCEP, export rebate and cross-border e-commerce, effectively improving the business capabilities of foreign trade enterprises. It also managed to obtain central and provincial foreign trade development funds of over RMB6 million, all of which were allocated to enterprises in full and in time, alleviating their financial stress.

(Translated by Yu Jie)