Qingdao's business environment continues to improve, bringing in increasing trade and investment with the RCEP going into effect in 2022. [Photo/WeChat account: shangzhoukan]

In the first four months of the year, Qingdao Customs issued a total of 40,000 certificates of origin under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, more than any other city in the country.

The export value of goods benefiting from these certificates reached 8.36 billion yuan ($1.15 billion), a year-on-year increase of 16 percent. Since the RCEP came into effect in January 2022, Qingdao Customs has issued a total of 235,000 RCEP certificates of origin, reducing tariffs by nearly 600 million yuan for companies exporting to RCEP member countries.

As the largest free trade agreement in the world, the RCEP is now in its third year of implementation. With the gradual expansion of tariff reductions under the RCEP by member countries each year, the effectiveness of the agreement in reducing regional international trade costs is becoming increasingly noticeable.

Weihai Haima Carpet Co Ltd recently applied for RCEP certificates of origin for a batch of carpets exported to Japan. "This certificate reduces import tariffs on our exported carpets in Japan from 8.1 percent to 5.2 percent at customs. This batch of carpets will enjoy a tariff reduction of about 10,000 yuan," said Yu Haipeng, the company's export manager. Since the beginning of this year, the company has applied for 90 RCEP certificates of origin, with more than 10 million yuan in exports benefiting.

Statistics show that in April this year, Qingdao Customs issued over 10,000 RCEP certificates of origin for exports to Japan, with an export value of 2 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.5 percent.