Yiwu is not a city alongside or near the sea. It is built on a market with more than 2.1 million kinds of commodities and is honored as the "largest small commodity wholesale market in the world" by the United Nations, and the World Bank amongst other world authorities. In recent years, Yiwu has comprehensively promoted online and offline trading integration and import-export interaction. The density of domestic and foreign trade network businesses ranks first and second in China respectively.
In the first 11 months of 2023, Yiwu's total import and export value reached RMB 522.12 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 18.1%. This is the first time that Yiwu's total import and export value has exceeded RMB 500 billion. Behind the outstanding data is the development momentum provided by reform, and one of the reform measures is the new supervision model of "inspection before shipment" for export LCL implemented by GACC in Yiwu for trial implementation.
Small commodity exports are characterized by small batches, multiple categories and high frequency, and foreign trade enterprises often adopt LCL shipping to reduce freight costs. Under the traditional export mode, it is necessary to transport goods in containers to areas designated by the customs office for supervision. The more LCL cargos in the container for customs declaration, the higher the probability of being sampled for customs inspection. An abnormal inspection result of one declared cargo often affects the normal customs clearance of the whole container cargo. It also comes with problems such as difficulty in unstuffing and finding goods during inspection, and in restoring and packing the goods after inspection.
The innovation of the supervision mode of "inspection before shipment" for export LCL cargo is an important preferential measure for the GACC to respond to enterprises' demands, adapt to social development and optimize business environment. According to Zhang Tao, Chief of the Logistics Monitoring Section of Yiwu Customs, to solve the problems such as susceptibility to export LCL shipment and difficulty in re-packing under the traditional mode, GACC innovatively proposed to implement "inspection before shipment" supervision on export LCL cargos. Under this supervision mode, it allows bulk cargos to enter the LCL warehouse under customs supervision, and the tally, group and customs declaration can be completed in the warehouse. The inspection link is arranged ahead, and the container is packed after the completion of customs supervision, to further improve the customs clearance efficiency of goods, and bring convenience to the export of small commodities and cross-border e-commerce.
Zhejiang Yinghe International Logistics Co., Ltd. is an international logistics company focusing on cross-border e-commerce and provides "one-stop" logistics services for domestic cross-border sellers and has its business grown rapidly in recent years. Cheng Keyuan, head of the company, said: "This measure introduced by the GACC has well solved many previous problems in the cross-border e-commerce cargo LCL exports, saved expenses such as unstuffing charge and dead freight, and reduced the risk of compensation caused by delayed shipping schedule."
Since the theme education of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was launched, Yiwu Customs has always adhered to the people-centered principle and provided good business guidance throughout the process as one of the first batch of "inspection before shipment" reform pilot customs districts in promoting the implementation of the reform, so as to strengthen the guarantee of customs clearance services. At the same time, Yiwu Customs has carried out many discussions and researches on the optimization of new supervision mode, timely collected and solved various situations and problems found in operation, continuously optimized the operation process and improved the system functions.
Recently, Yiwu Railway Port successfully opened the exit channel of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port's all-area water transport port, providing strong support for further expanding and strengthening the LCL business. Since the reform was put into implementation, Yiwu Customs has supervised a total of 3,971 batches of LCL export cargo with a value of RMB 145 million.
Next, Yiwu Customs will continue to promote practical and deep application of the theme education to obtain implementation results, continuously practice the fine tradition of "four visits to grass-roots level", take great initiative in investigation and research, vigorously promote development, actively keep in touch with enterprises through activities such as "Face-to-Face Policy Guidance by Customs Director" and "Hundred Teams Helping Thousand Enterprises in Ten Cities", transform the achievements of theme education into driving force for foreign trade development, and help Yiwu large small commodity market to recreate new glory.
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