In the latest episode of China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency, guest speakers shared insights into the significance of the Hainan FTP and its upcoming special customs operations.
“Accelerating the development of free trade ports is a concrete move to show the world that China’s door to opening up will not be closed, but will only open wider,” said Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.
“The launch of island-wide special customs operations reflects China’s resolve to address external uncertainties with the certainty of expanded high-standard opening up, injecting new vitality into both the Chinese economy and global growth,” Huang said.
Located in China’s southernmost island province, the Hainan FTP is the country’s largest special economic zone and a key testing ground for deepening reform and opening up. Under the special customs operations, the Hainan FTP will implement a supervision model featuring “freer access at the first line, regulated access at the second line, and free flows within the island.”
The “first line,” linking Hainan with overseas markets, will allow most imported goods to enter tariff-free with faster clearance, while the “second line,” referring to the customs boundary between Hainan and the mainland, will apply standard customs oversight to ensure fairness and prevent smuggling.
Starting Thursday, the share of zero-tariff products in the Hainan FTP will surge from 21 percent to 74 percent, with the number of tariff-free items expanding from about 1,900 to 6,637, covering nearly all production equipment and raw materials.
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“Island-wide special customs operations will bring a more open trade environment and a more efficient allocation of production factors, creating major development opportunities,” said Xue Zengyi, senior vice chairman of CP Group Agro-industry & Food Business, China Area.
Xue illustrated the impact with a simple calculation: the group’s coffee business will benefit from the free trade port’s zero-tariff policy on raw and auxiliary materials, reducing import costs by 8 percent in tariffs and 13 percent in value-added tax on green coffee beans, significantly lowering raw material expenses.
One of the earliest foreign-invested enterprises to establish a presence in Hainan, CP Group has operated in the province for nearly four decades. Starting with agriculture and animal husbandry, it has expanded into seven sectors, including aquaculture and coffee, and now runs 13 enterprises with a total investment of 2 billion yuan (about 283.4 million U.S. dollars).
The launch of island-wide special customs operations marks a milestone in the development of the Hainan FTP, with a raft of preferential policies expected to deliver tangible gains for businesses and residents in Hainan.
Huang said that the preferential tax policies will significantly reduce operating costs in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and high-end manufacturing, help attract industrial clustering, and spur the development of emerging industries, including offshore wind power and commercial spaceflight.
For Hainan residents, the expanded range of offshore duty-free goods and optimized shopping policies are expected to invigorate the local consumer market. Hainan’s distinctive development models are also set to spur a new wave of growth in modern service sectors such as healthcare and education, Huang added.
As part of efforts to advance the construction of the Hainan FTP, China earlier this year improved the island’s offshore duty-free shopping policies, including measures to broaden the scope of eligible duty-free goods. Since the policy took effect on Nov. 1, offshore duty-free sales have exceeded 1.5 billion yuan.
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“Island-wide special customs operations mark a new starting point for the opening up and development of the Hainan FTP, rather than the finish line,” Huang said. He added that China will gradually expand opening-up at the “first line,” further ease trade administration, and work to build a special customs supervision zone with international competitiveness and influence.
Hainan will align itself with high-standard international economic and trade rules in areas such as cross-border data flows and intellectual property protection. The institutional innovations accumulated in the process can be replicated nationwide, helping propel deeper domestic reforms, said Huang.
In terms of industry and investment, Hainan’s policy advantages are expected to attract global capital into sectors such as tourism and education, while fostering a trade model linking raw materials from Southeast Asia, processing in Hainan, and distribution in the mainland, positioning the island as a hub connecting domestic and international markets and helping optimize China’s overall trade network.
In the financial sector, improvements to the multi-functional free trade account system will broaden channels for cross-border financing and investment, facilitating the entry of foreign capital into the Chinese market and supporting outbound investment by domestic firms. This will help diversify China’s approaches to both utilizing foreign investment and investing abroad, Huang added.
Official data show that since 2020, more than 9,600 foreign-invested enterprises have been newly established in Hainan, with investors from 176 countries and regions. With the launch of island-wide special customs operations, Hainan is expected to strengthen further its role as a headquarters base for overseas companies entering the Chinese market.
In recent years, Hainan’s foreign trade has demonstrated strong growth momentum. In 2024, the total volume of Hainan’s goods imports and exports reached 277.65 billion yuan — up 20 percent year on year and nearly 200 percent compared to 2020.
Xue said that while CP Group continues to deepen its presence in the Hainan market through product innovation and expanded investment, it will also make full use of the advantages of the Hainan FTP to bring Hainan’s distinctive agricultural products to international markets.
