Original title: RCEP takes effect, Hebei ushered in multiple opportunities
Source: Hebei Provincial Government website
□Reporter Hu Xiaomei Li Liangliang Liu Yanli
From January 1st, RCEP officially came into effect. The full name of RCEP is the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement”. It is currently the world’s most populous free trade agreement with the largest economic and trade scale and the most potential for development. According to regulations, on January 1, 2022, RCEP will be the first to be implemented in six ASEAN member states including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, and four countries including China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
“RCEP was officially launched. At the same time as the world economy’s “Asia-Pacific New Era” is opened, the vast number of enterprises and consumers in Hebei Province will also usher in new development opportunities.” The relevant person in charge of the Provincial Department of Commerce said.
Tariff reduction
Help companies expand their markets
“On the first day of the new year, we got the first RCEP certificate of origin in Hebei Province. I am really very happy!” On January 4, Gao Yansheng, general manager of Hebei Yuanfa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. took out the RCEP certificate of origin and shared with reporters His joy. He said that with this certificate, the tariffs on Chinese medicinal materials exported by their companies to Japan will be reduced from the original 9% to zero.
Gao Yansheng said that the RCEP certificate of origin came in a timely manner. They happen to have a batch of Coix seed to be sent to Japan. The goods are now packed neatly and waiting for container transportation. It is expected to be shipped from Tianjin Port to Kobe, Japan on January 18. Japanese customers will be able to receive the goods in about 10 days. This batch of goods alone can reduce or exempt Japanese tariffs of 53,000 yuan.
Hebei Yuanfa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. mainly produces, processes and sells Chinese medicinal materials and related products. There are more than 200 varieties of products, and 90% of the company’s products are for export. According to rough estimates, in the first year of the RCEP agreement, at least 4 million yuan in tariff discounts can be enjoyed, which effectively reduces business costs and improves the competitiveness of products in the international market, which will greatly help companies expand their share of the Japanese consumer market.
According to the RCEP rules, RCEP member states will pass about 10 years to basically realize that 90% of the products enjoy zero tariffs. In addition, there are some new measures in the areas of facilitation of customs clearance, rules of origin, certificates of origin, mutual recognition of standards, including service trade and investment, which have brought tangible benefits to enterprises and consumers.
Break down barriers
More complete industrial chain
While driving “Made in Hebei” to go global, RCEP has also promoted the diversification of imports.
“After the RCEP agreement comes into effect, the pepper oil we produce can immediately enjoy zero-tariff treatment in the Korean and Japanese markets!” Hua Shujie, manager of Handan Chenguang Biotechnology Group Co., Ltd., said happily, “We plan to increase imports of black oil from Vietnam. Pepper raw materials, so that the finished product is easier to obtain the qualification of origin, and we can enjoy the two preferential tariff reductions when importing and exporting. This will greatly reduce the production cost and enhance the competitiveness of our products. We are also more confident to develop new ones. The market is up!”
The breaking of trade barriers will not only help extend the division of labor in the industrial chain, but also help further reduce the cost of enterprises participating in the division of labor in the international industrial chain. Statistics show that Hebei has a sound foundation for economic and trade cooperation with the member states of RCEP, and there is great potential for development. From January to October 2021, the total value of Hebei’s imports and exports to RCEP countries was 162.54 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%.
In order to help Hebei enterprises accelerate their integration into the global value chain, relevant departments in Hebei plan ahead and make full preparations. The Provincial Department of Commerce launched the “RCEP Yan Zhao Xing” activity, through a series of activities such as organizing policy presentations, carrying out project docking, and holding high-end forums to further intensify the exchanges and cooperation between Hebei and RCEP member states. And invited 10 experts and scholars from Tsinghua University, Provincial Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Shijiazhuang Customs, Hebei University of Economics and Trade and other units to serve as the first batch of Hebei FTA seed trainers to carry out RCEP publicity training.
Trade facilitation
Consumers enjoy benefits
Consumers will benefit from lowering circulation costs and expanding the scope of trade.
RCEP means more favorable prices and better services. Chen Meng, a citizen of Shijiazhuang, likes to buy imported food, such as dragon fruit from Vietnam, durian and dried fruit from Thailand, and condiments from Japan…These are all “frequent customers” in her shopping cart. She said that compared with domestic food, the price of imported food is generally more expensive. If zero tariffs are achieved and the cost and price of merchants are reduced, they can buy more and share them with family and friends.
As consumers get benefits, businesses can do better business, and there will naturally be more opportunities for in-depth cooperation.
Fang Na, who has been running e-commerce for many years, specializes in Japanese and Korean cosmetics and health products. In her view, the population and industries covered by RCEP are considerable. With the implementation of RCEP, overseas brands will pay more and more attention to the Chinese market, and more brands will enter the Chinese market through international cooperation. As the first batch of companies operating cross-border commodities, her company has already enjoyed a large wave of policy dividends. With the improvement and development of RCEP, it will usher in more new cooperation spaces.
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Expert: Embrace RCEP, Hebei companies do it
After the RCEP takes effect, how will Hebei enterprises accelerate their integration into the international “circle of friends”?
Li Qing, a professor in the Department of International Trade of the Business School of Hebei University of Economics and Business, believes that as the world’s largest free trade agreement, RCEP covers a lot of content. In addition to the traditional liberalization of trade in goods, it also includes the liberalization of investment, the liberalization of trade in services, and the liberalization of trade in services, which are not available in some other free trade agreements.
The impact of RCEP on Hebei, along with tariff reductions, will bring more investment and service trade development to Hebei, which will also force the optimization of Hebei’s entire business environment.
Enterprises in Hebei must first understand the rules and regulations of RCEP. Tariff reduction or exemption does not mean that all zero tariffs will be realized immediately. There is a transition period in which companies must understand whether their products can enjoy relevant tariff reductions. With which country you are cooperating, you must also understand the relevant regulations of that country’s special investment cooperation.
RCEP is the first free trade agreement signed between China and Japan. It places China, Japan and South Korea under the same free trade agreement for the first time. Prior to this, Japan, South Korea, and China had not reached a free trade agreement, which largely hindered the industrial chain cooperation in Northeast Asia.
Japan and South Korea’s auto industry is relatively strong, and their presence will have an impact on the Chinese market. On the one hand, they will stimulate Chinese companies to strengthen R&D and improve quality; on the other hand, the import cost of auto parts will drop, which will also drive the development of the auto industry chain. . Under the new free trade framework, the cooperation space between Hebei and Japan and South Korea in terms of parts procurement and technological innovation will inevitably be further expanded.
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