According to data released by Haikou Customs, in the first ten months of this year, Hainan's import and export to ASEAN in the form of general trade reached 9.8 billion yuan, up 6.5% over the same period last year, and accounted for 51.5% of the total value of bilateral trade between Hainan and ASEAN in the same period. Imports and exports by processing trade amounted to about 2.1 billion yuan, up 59.6%, and accounted for 10.8% of the total value. Among them, foreign enterprises accounted for more than half, and private enterprises increased significantly.

Ju Chunmei, the director of Statistics and Analysis Department of Haikou Customs, states that from January to October this year, Hainan's foreign invested enterprises' import and export to ASEAN reached about 10.7 billion yuan, accounting for 56% of the total value; the import and export of private enterprises reached about 7.6 billion yuan, up 79.7% over the same period last year, and accounted for 39.7% of the total value.

“Our products are very popular in ASEAN countries. We deliver goods about once every two days. In the future, it will soon be once a day,” said Xu Qiang, the general manager of Hainan Zhonghefei International Trade Co., Ltd.

Hainan is geographically close to ASEAN, and the two sides have a good cooperation foundation in economic, trade and cultural exchanges. In order to create a law-based, international and convenient business environment at ports, Haikou Customs has issued 15 measures to reduce the handling time.

“We used to go to Nanning, Wuhan and other ports to handle business, and it would take three days to complete the process. After changing to Macun port, the formalities are much more convenient, and it has improved the road transportation and also the flight distance to Southeast Asia, which has a great advantage in transportation costs，” said Xuqiang.

Ju Chunmei said that in the next step, the Statistics and Analysis Department of Haikou Customs will continue to provide better services to support Hainan enterprises in their import and export trade with ASEAN countries, making contributions to the bilateral economic and trade cooperation.