Ningbo enterprises jump on RCEP wagon

Customs officials inspect a textile factory in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/Ningbo Evening News]

A total of 6,640 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) certificates of origin were issued for $269 million worth of goods exported from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province in the first quarter of this year.

The number of certificates and value of the exports were increases of 54.33 percent and 24.33 percent year-on-year respectively, according to official statistics from Ningbo Customs.

One beneficiary of the certificates is Ningbo Bode High-tech Co Ltd, which has seen the tax rate levied on its exports to Japan reduced from the original 3 percent to 2.2 percent. This has in turn greatly enhanced the competitiveness of its products – high-end precision wire – globally.

Currently, 96 percent of RCEP certificates of origin can be applied via machines and be self-printed by applicants.

The RCEP involves 10 ASEAN member states, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The 15 states account for about 30 percent of the world's total population, gross domestic product and trade.

More than 90 percent of goods traded between member countries will eventually be subjected to no tariffs, according to the agreement.