Preferential zero tariff policy helps accelerate Laos' natural rubber imports

At Menglong Passage in Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, a truck loaded with 33 tons of Laotian natural rubber was quickly cleared and transported to a domestic production and processing base after being supervised and released by Xishuangbanna Customs under Kunming Customs.

Data shows that in January 2026, Xishuangbanna Customs supervised imported natural rubber worth 140 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 174.4%, with a tax reduction of 30.623 million yuan, involving a total of 23 beneficiary enterprises. Previously, importing natural rubber from Laos required a 20% tariff, but now with a special certificate of origin, you can enjoy zero tariff. Since the beginning of this year, we have reduced or exempted rubber imports by about 2.7 million yuan, "said Jin Xingyu, a customs broker at Xishuangbanna Zhiding International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd.

We have launched the 'Customs Director delivers policies to your doorstep' activity, providing one-on-one guidance for enterprises to apply for preferential zero tariff certificates of origin, and implementing a 'pre-approval' mechanism for certificates of origin to ensure that preferential policy enterprises can enjoy and redeem them quickly, "said Liu Debing, head of the Port Supervision Department of Xishuangbanna Customs.

In order to ensure the safe and efficient customs clearance of imported rubber, Xishuangbanna Customs guides enterprises to make good use of convenient measures such as "advance declaration" and "two-step declaration", and uses intelligent equipment such as H986 container/large vehicle inspection system and intelligent drawing review technology. The manual inspection time is compressed by nearly half, and the on-site inspection, sampling and inspection links are efficiently connected. The rubber classification and identification laboratory achieves on-demand inspection, strictly controls the quality and safety of imported rubber, and ensures "good in and good out" while achieving "fast in and fast out".

The zero tariff policy has taken root, stimulating enterprise development activities, promoting regional economic and trade development, and giving play to the positive role of customs in helping build the "the Belt and Road" country. (Xu Ke/Wen)