Shenzhen Customs helps to keep trade buzzing

Staff members from Shenzhen Customs inspect export goods. [Photo by Li Yanwei/China Daily]

Shenzhen Customs has provided technical help to high-tech companies, private enterprises and the real economy to remove trade barriers and protect their interests in global markets.

In September, the World Customs Organization Harmonized System Committee determined that a drone of Shenzhen-based DJI, a world-leading commercial drone maker, was a "flying camera".

It was modified from "camera-equipped aircraft" five months ago.

Previously, without a unified classification, different markets had their own export standards for drones.

Classifying the drone as an aircraft would require a stricter entry criteria, which would dampen the development of the world-leading industry, according to Shenzhen Customs.

"We have made use of technical measures and international rules to participate in the discussions raised by HSC," said Zhang Mingya, an official with the customs duty department of Shenzhen Customs.

"Some of the successful practices removed barriers for exporters and raised the competitiveness of private innovation companies in global markets," Zhang said.

The Shenzhen Customs lodged nine notification comments on the technical barriers to trade in 2018, including France's new rule on drones and Canada's rules on laboratories, benefiting exports worth $6.5 billion.

As a result, Shenzhen, the export champion of China, kept its top position domestically.

The city has seen an increasing number of private high-tech companies in the global market, customs figures show.

Imports and exports of Shenzhen totaled 3 trillion yuan ($441.9 billion) in 2018, up 7 percent from a year ago and ranked second among Chinese mainland cities, after Shanghai. Shenzhen's exports alone amounted to 1.63 trillion yuan, ranking first among mainland cities for 26 years in a row.

Private companies in Shenzhen have shown a strong performance with their imports and exports surging 12.9 percent year-on-year in 2018, accounting for more than half of the city's trade volume.

About 95 percent of Shenzhen's trade volume growth came from the private sector, customs figures show. Meanwhile, three private companies from Shenzhen joined the top 100 trade companies of China last year, bringing the city's total to 12.

The city's import figures of high-tech products and consumer goods also led the country.

In 2018, the import of integrated circuits and liquid crystal displays to Shenzhen continued to rank the first across the nation.

Chen Xiaoying, commissioner of Shenzhen Customs, said they will launch new measures to help traders and enhance the city's business environment.

They will include cutting the clearance time, reducing the cost of imports and exports and simplifying the procedures, delivering more support to private and high-tech companies, he noted.