557 Taiwan Products Enjoy Zero Tariff &Nbsp; Sichuan Enterprises Import Cost Reduced By 10%

According to the framework agreement on economic cooperation across the Straits, the mainland and Taiwan have fully implemented the goods since this year.

Yesterday, the provincial chamber of Commerce and the Taipei World Trade Center jointly held the ECFA (Cross Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) trade policy training briefing, which attracted the attention of many Sichuan and Taiwan enterprises.

Xu Yongmei, a Sichuan business manager who imported high mountain tea from Taiwan, said: "the tax is low! The cost of our imports is estimated to be reduced by about 10%, and the import volume will also increase by 30% in the future."

Over the past year, Sichuan's imports and exports to Taiwan have surged, especially the import of electronic enterprises such as Intel, Changhong and Chang Zhi photoelectricity has increased by more than 1 times.

People in the Provincial Department of Commerce said that with the implementation of the early harvest plan for ECFA trade in goods, the cost of importing raw materials and products from Sichuan's electronic information and fine chemical industries from Taiwan will be greatly reduced.

Trade status: Sichuan's imports from Taiwan increased by nearly 70%.

According to data from the Provincial Department of Commerce, the total import and export volume of Sichuan and Taiwan reached 910 million US dollars in 2010, an increase of 56.29% over the same period last year.

Among them, Sichuan exported $263 million to Taiwan, mainly including mechanical and electrical products, chemical products, food and metal products, and so on. Sichuan imported 647 million dollars from Taiwan, mainly including electromechanical products, optics, medical equipment and so on.

Last year, Sichuan's imports from Taiwan increased by nearly 70%, including mechanical and electrical products, chemical products, LCD panels, semiconductor devices and so on.

Up to now, there are 1393 enterprises in Taiwan to invest in Sichuan, including Foxconn, Ren Bao, Wei Chuan, Tai Li, Far East, unification, Dingxin, Wangwang, Dongyuan group and other famous enterprises.

In January 2010, Xichang standard industrial company was approved to invest in Taiwan to set up a tea product wholesale enterprise and become the first enterprise to invest in Taiwan in Sichuan.

Sichuan enterprises response: reduced taxes reduced import costs by 10%

"ECFA will open a new pattern of economic and trade cooperation between Sichuan and Taiwan."

The provincial chamber of Commerce introduced the implementation of the ECFA early harvest plan for goods trade in January 1st this year. The mainland lowered taxes on 557 products originating in Taiwan, including agricultural products (000061), chemical industry, machinery and electronics. Taiwan lowered taxes on 267 products originating in the mainland, including petrochemicals, machinery and textiles.

"Tax reduction is directly related to cost reduction."

Yesterday, Xu Yongmei, chief executive of a Sichuan enterprise, said that the amount of high mountain tea imported from Taiwan reached about 1700000 yuan in 2010, and the original tax rate was 15%.

This year, the tax rate will be reduced to 5%, which will directly reduce the cost of imports.

She estimates that the cost will be reduced by around 10%, and the volume of imports from Taiwan is expected to increase by 30% this year.

Tax cuts are good for export companies.

He Jun, the chief executive of a Sichuan company, said that they export pomegranate juice to Taiwan for about 200 tons a year.

Although this category has not yet been included in the preferential tariff sequence, he is very concerned about this policy.

"We hope that our products will also enjoy policies in the future, because this will enhance competitiveness in the Taiwan market."

Taiwan business enters Sichuan: trade in services will become a new hot spot

Apart from trade in goods, there will be new breakthroughs in trade in services.

According to the Provincial Department of Commerce, according to the ECFA service trade early harvest plan, the mainland has 11 service departments: opening accounting services, computers and related services, research and development services, conference services, audio-visual service professional design, hospital services, civil aircraft maintenance, banking, securities, insurance and so on.

Trade in services will become a new hot spot for Taiwanese businessmen to invest in Sichuan, supporting the development of related manufacturing industries and upgrading the development level of modern service industry in Sichuan.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's further liberalisation of 9 service industries will stimulate more Sichuan enterprises to seek investment and cooperation opportunities in Taiwan.

Policy Click

ECFA

According to the Cross Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), since January 1, 2011, the mainland and Taiwan have fully implemented the early harvest plan for trade in goods and services. The two sides will take 3 steps to achieve zero tariff on the early harvest products in the period not exceeding 2 years after the implementation of the early harvest plan, and open the field of service trade to each other.

In the field of goods trade, the mainland has 539 items of tax reduction products, which are adjusted to 557 items in 2011, 18 items of agricultural products and 521 items of manufacturing products, including petrochemicals, machinery, textiles, pport, steel, metal products, electrical machinery, small household electrical appliances and handicrafts, etc., and export to the mainland will enjoy tariff free preferential treatment.

The list of mainland goods included in the tax reduction in Taiwan has 267 items, all of which are manufactured products, including petrochemicals, machinery, textiles, pport, chemicals, sports equipment, moulds, glass, motors and so on. Taiwan's import of such products will enjoy tariff free preferential treatment.