Guangdong-Japan exporters to save 'millions'
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement entered into force on January 1, sixty days following the date when the minimum threshold for the receipt of instruments of ratification/acceptance (IOR/A) by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat was met.
In other words, as of November 2, 2021, the secretariat had received IOR/A from six ASEAN member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, plus four non-ASEAN signatory states: Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand.
Fifteen nations across the Asia-Pacific signed the agreement to set up the RCEP.
According to reports from within China, initial estimates would suggest that Guangdong province’s leather, textile and footwear exports to Japan alone are set to benefit from around $7.4 million or ¥47 million in total tariff reductions during this first year of the agreement’s implementation.
Japan is reportedly one of the main importers of Guangdong-made leathergoods, the manufacturing and sales of which account for roughly one-third of China’s total, local media said.
Customs officials for Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, told reporters that the city’s businesses would now do well to obtain approved RCEP exporter status, as well as manage the production and sales of goods for export “in a more flexible manner” and actively find ways to position themselves advantageously among competitors in the international arena.
