General

Recently, the workers of Ivory Coast Rubber Factory in West Africa are rushing to produce for Chinese orders. These orders are from Jihua Yueyang New Material Technology Co., Ltd. in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, and the goods will be delivered to Yueyang in batches.

Deng Xiaoxia, the general manager of Jihua Yueyang New Materials Technology Co., Ltd., which is mainly engaged in the import and export trade of natural rubber and polyolefin polymer materials, introduced that after the China Africa Economic and Trade Fair was permanently settled in Hunan, enterprises were optimistic about the future economic and trade development of Hunan and Africa. Since 2020, they began to layout the African market. This year, they have imported more than 11000 tons of African natural rubber.

In recent years, Hunan has taken the opportunity of holding the China Africa Economic and Trade Expo for a long time and building a demonstration area for in-depth cooperation in China Africa economic and trade as an opportunity to develop closer trade relations with Africa.

According to Changsha Customs data, Hunan's import and export to Africa from January to November this year amounted to 50.94 billion yuan, an increase of more than 40% year on year. It has expanded to maintain trade relations with 58 African countries (regions). There are 2498 foreign trade enterprises to Africa in the province, including 3 enterprises with a scale of more than 1 billion yuan and 65 enterprises with a scale of more than 100 million yuan.

"In just a few years, Hunan has become one of the most active provinces in China in terms of economic and trade cooperation with Africa among local provinces, autonomous regions and cities." Zhu Guangyao, head of Changsha Customs, said that Hunan's import and export value to Africa increased from 15.08 billion yuan in 2012 to 40.39 billion yuan in 2021, ranking eighth in China and first in central China.

To promote economic and trade cooperation with Africa, smooth logistics channels are indispensable. On December 13, a Boeing 777 cargo plane carrying 92 tons of clothing, daily necessities and e-commerce goods flew from Changsha to Addis Ababa. This is the first international cargo route from Hunan Province to Africa. Since its opening on July 26 this year, it has flown 56 flights so far, with a total of 4028.7 tons of goods shipped.

"This route meets the urgent needs of Hunan enterprises for African trade." Zhou Jun, deputy general manager of Hunan Airport Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., said that now three shifts a week are basically full load operation, and the main export goods are clothing, mobile phone accessories, mechanical accessories, etc.

In view of the characteristics of Hunan's inland location, Changsha Customs has made every effort to build a three-dimensional logistics system for Africa and expand new logistics channels for Africa. In addition to facilitating the opening of international freight routes to Africa, Changsha Customs also ensures the regular operation of Hunan Guangdong Africa rail sea intermodal trains. The trains are transported by rail to Nansha Port in Guangzhou, and then arrive at Mombasa Port in Kenya by sea. Compared with the traditional river sea routes, this new channel can shorten the entire transportation time by 9 to 10 days.

According to customs data, 218 trains of Hunan Guangdong non rail sea intermodal transport were shipped in the first November of this year, significantly exceeding the target of 100 trains at the beginning of the year.

We will build a logistics channel system for Hunan Africa aviation, Hunan Guangdong Africa rail sea intermodal transport, and Hunan Shanghai Africa river sea intermodal transport to Africa, and promote the layout of overseas warehouse systems in key African regions, important ports, and node cities. More high-quality products from Hunan are also going to Africa through convenient channels.

Changsha Baohui Import and Export Co., Ltd. mainly exports bags, shoes, wigs, ceramics and other products. Xie Shengxiang, the general manager of the company, said that the company's initial market was mainly oriented to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. In 2020, Hunan Gaoqiao Market will become a demonstration park for China Africa economic and trade cooperation to promote innovation. Seeing the prospect of China Africa economic and trade cooperation, the company decided to layout the African market.

"We export a wide range of goods. A batch of goods may be issued by more than five customers in the form of consolidated containers. If we declare for export according to general trade, the formalities are complicated. But through market procurement trade, we can enjoy the convenience of customs declaration for export goods, which not only greatly shortens the customs clearance time, but also greatly reduces the cost of enterprises." Xie Shengxiang said that Hunan's products have been praised by African customers, At present, African market business has accounted for 30%. "The African market is huge. Next, we plan to make field visits and docking to expand our business."

AEO certification is a "golden signboard" to boost foreign trade development, maintain stability and improve quality. On August 10 this year, China and Burundi Customs successfully renewed the China Burundi AEO Mutual Recognition Action Plan. This is the first AEO mutual recognition arrangement action plan signed between Chinese customs and African customs since the publication of Vision 2035 for China Africa Cooperation. It marks another solid step taken by the Chinese Customs in deepening China Africa economic and trade cooperation and promoting AEO mutual recognition and cooperation in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" countries.

Zhu Guangyao introduced that in order to help more competitive enterprises "go global", Changsha Customs has set up a special working class to assist the General Administration of Customs in promoting AEO mutual recognition and cooperation between China and Africa. "AEO is the abbreviation of Authorized Economic Operator, that is, 'certified operator'. It is a system for customs to certify enterprises with high credit status, law-abiding degree and level, and give preferential customs clearance facilities to certified enterprises. Being an AEO certified enterprise means that it can enjoy the dividends released by customs credit management, such as improving customs clearance treatment, shortening customs clearance time, and reducing customs clearance costs, so as to One step to improve the competitiveness of enterprises in international trade. "

At present, China and Africa have a strong intention to cooperate in the import and export of food and agricultural products. In August this year, at the 2022 event hosted by the People's Government of Hunan Province, where African envoys to China walked into the pilot area of China Africa in-depth economic and trade cooperation, a number of African envoys to China said they looked forward to further strengthening economic and trade cooperation with China in agriculture, health care and other fields.

Mbelwa Kairuki, Tanzanian Ambassador to China, said in an interview that the primary product Tanzania hopes to seize opportunities in the Chinese market is agricultural products, which is facilitated by the pilot area for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. "The pilot area for in-depth economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa perfectly combines the advantages of Africa's high-quality agricultural products with the strength of Chinese partners in processing and distribution, which can help our products increase value according to the needs of the Chinese market."

Focusing on the construction of an African non resource product distribution trading center, Hunan is speeding up the construction of a full industrial chain of African high-quality products for the domestic market.

Changsha Customs actively coordinated to promote the expansion of imports of high-quality agricultural food products in Africa, and assisted the General Administration of Customs in conducting aquatic product access assessments in Kenya, Tanzania and other countries. On April 27 this year, Kenya's dried swim bladder has been continuously imported from Hunan port through Changsha Nairobi flight. In Tanzania, 7 types of agricultural food products, including soybeans, cloves, dried cashews, coffee beans, cocoa beans and sesame, have been admitted to China.

On September 9, the first batch of coffee beans imported from Africa by direct air transport in Hunan successfully arrived at Changsha Airport. This batch of coffee beans, 2.04 tons in total, is produced in Kenya and imported by Hunan Yanzhi International Trade Co., Ltd., an enterprise settled in Hunan China Africa Trade Expo Park. Changsha Customs opened the "green channel for territorial inspection of fresh and perishable agricultural and food products imported and exported" to ensure quality and safety while quickly clearing the customs.

According to the person in charge of the enterprise, at present, all the coffee beans are sold to domestic coffee roasting plants and coffee shops, and will be imported in batches by water transportation in the future.

Now in Hunan, depending on the direct mining industry chain of African coffee producing areas, the import cycle of African coffee beans has been shortened from 45 days to 15 days, saving 30% of the cost. The multi invested Ivorian agricultural products processing plant project will be started in Ivory Coast and Yueyang City, Hunan Province, to build a large-scale processing and sales industrial chain of rubber, palm oil and seed cotton

In the economic and trade cooperation with non-agricultural products, Hunan actively explored new paths and mechanisms, built platforms to unlock potential, and promoted bilateral cooperation to achieve more practical results. According to customs data, in the first 11 months of this year, Hunan imported 70.225 million yuan of agricultural products from Africa, up 116.5% year on year. More high-quality African agricultural products are entering the Chinese market through Hunan.

Not only the traditional agricultural products, but also the new business form of Hunan's foreign trade with Africa has ushered in new opportunities. On September 27, Changsha Haokuo International Trade Co., Ltd. declared to Changsha Customs for export a batch of sofa, fan and other goods through integrated market procurement, which were successfully cleared and shipped to Kenya.

"In the export product cluster area, the company can easily assemble goods to meet the diversified needs of African customers." Zhu Huaping, general manager of Changsha Haokuo International Trade Co., Ltd., said that customs data showed that in the first eight months, the company exported more than 36 million yuan of goods to Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries through market procurement, doubling year-on-year.

According to customs data, Hunan's procurement and export to Africa from January to November this year reached 1.93 billion yuan, an increase of 380%. It is understood that the third China Africa Economic and Trade Fair is planned to be held in Changsha in June next year. Zhu Guangyao said that Changsha Customs won the support of the General Administration of Customs, approved the release of China Africa trade index during the Third China Africa Economic and Trade Fair, and hosted the China Africa Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Cooperation Forum to promote better and faster development of China Africa trade.