HAIKOU /China/, October 20. /TASS/. China’s southern province of Hainan has successfully adjusted to a new offshore customs model this year. The Hainan Daily newspaper reported that the country’s southernmost region has been demonstrating high development rates thanks to a broad array of policy favors.
According to authors of the publication, there has been a noticeable improvement in the efficiency of cargo flows running through the island’s seaports since December 18 of last year when the Hainan Free Trade Port officially transitioned to a new trade and investment regime. The province is becoming a “new vanguard of China’s opening-up,” a promising platform for mutually beneficial cooperation and economic globalization, the paper said.
It cited official statistics, which show that following the transition to a new customs model in early 2026 the number of new commercial entities registered in Hainan climbed by more than 71% in annual terms (including a 31% rise for enterprises with foreign capital, and a 47% surge for foreign trade companies). The province has started attracting global resources much more actively, implementing more landmark projects with other countries’ participation.
The new customs regime serves as one of the key catalysts for increasing Hainan’s economic openness, according to the publication. Amid those changes, the province has been demonstrating an impressive increase in its external trade turnover, which soared by 49.8% in January-September to 285.44 bln yuan ($42.47 bln at the current exchange rate of the People’s Bank of China). Trade in services with other countries and regions rose by 11.7% in the reporting period to 56.95 bln yuan ($8.47 bln). Despite the mounting scale of economic interaction with other countries, the time required for customs clearance of imported goods on the island has decreased by around 20%, with low-risk shipments undergoing procedures “in a second.”
Hainan’s shift to a new customs regime has spurred progress in the area of international transport links that has been registered by authorities. Specifically, the province’s border checkpoints have inspected 16,000 aircraft and 4,000 vessels since the middle of last December. Those figures gained 23% and 9% year-on-year, respectively.
On December 18, 2025, Hainan transitioned to a new customs system, under which the list of products exempt from import duties upon entry into the province expanded from 1,900 to 6,600 items (up to 74% of the entire range of products). The preferences cover “almost all enterprises, institutions, and private non-profit organizations on the island that have a genuine need for imports.” Unlike freight, all passenger flows are subject to existing regulations: individuals heading to the island for business or tourism do not require any additional documents.