Continuous improvement in 'new content', Gongbei Pass District's foreign trade will rise against the trend in 2025
Customs officers of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge are monitoring cross-border e-commerce packages. Photo by Lin Changfeng
In 2025, the foreign trade on the west bank of the the Pearl River Estuary will show strong resilience. According to statistics from Gongbei Customs, the total import and export value of foreign trade in Zhuhai and Zhongshan reached 622.65 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%. Among them, exports of new formats such as cross-border e-commerce and lithium batteries showed a leapfrog growth. Where does the driving force of growth come from? In the trajectory of accelerating enterprise growth, a series of regulatory innovations and service optimizations are transforming into a genuine sense of achievement in improving quality and efficiency, continuously activating the endogenous driving force for high-quality development.
New channel: Global orders on the bridge
In the customs supervision area of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge, trucks loaded with cross-border e-commerce packages quickly pass through the checkpoint without stopping almost. By 2025, we will have cleared over 10 million packages through the Daqiao Port, with a value of over 100 million yuan. This number was unimaginable in the early stages of our business, "said Cai Dongjue, the head of customs operations at Cainiao Group. Cainiao Group launched its business at Daqiao Port in 2020, witnessing the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce at Daqiao Port.
The change stems from the construction of the new economic and trade channel of the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge. In the past, goods had to travel between multiple locations. Now, customs has fully utilized the unique advantage of the bridge connecting Hong Kong and Macau's dense international routes, innovatively creating the "Bridge Clearance Hong Kong Macau Transit Global Express" e-commerce express line, linking Hong Kong airport and port distribution functions, and realizing the mainland customs clearance, Hong Kong Macau transit, and global distribution of exported goods. Our company exports tens of thousands of cross-border e-commerce packages through the Daqiao Port every day. With round the clock customs clearance guarantee and a stable and predictable customs clearance environment, we have full confidence in undertaking larger business volumes, "said Cai Dongjue.
Nowadays, the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge inspects and releases over 1.6 million cross-border e-commerce packages on a daily basis. The non-invasive inspection equipment compresses the inspection time of a single package to less than 6 seconds, significantly improving customs clearance efficiency and attracting top enterprises such as SHEIN, Cainiao, and JD International to gather. By 2025, the total export value of the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform through the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge port will reach 110.98 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 92.5%, and the radiation power of the new economic and trade channel will continue to strengthen.
New convenience: "Zero running" certification
From the breeding bases and planting parks on the west bank of the the Pearl River to the Hong Kong and Macao markets, the agricultural food products for Hong Kong and Macao have always been characterized by many batches, various varieties, high customs clearance timeliness requirements, and uninterrupted supply throughout the year. A reform focusing on "paper" is quietly reshaping the efficiency and cost of the cross-border livelihood supply chain.
Since the launch of the paperless reform of animal and plant quarantine certificates by Gongbei Customs and Macao Municipal Government, the process that relied on paper documents for circulation and took several hours has been replaced by cross-border direct transmission of electronic certificate data. This system, which replaces "people and vehicles rushing around" with "data running", has broken through the wall. In just over a year, it has not only saved real money for enterprises, but also made fresh products supplied to Hong Kong and Macao more "fresh".
The savings are not just a few hours, but also the freshness and competitiveness of the products. "In the processing workshop of Riri Flower Farm in Tanzhou Town, Zhongshan City, the person in charge, Li Jianqiang, calculated that in the past, we had to go to the customs office to apply for a paper plant quarantine certificate when exporting, which would take at least 2 to 3 hours to go back and forth, and then bring the certificate along with the goods to Macau for declaration and inspection. Now, the certificate information can be transmitted and delivered in seconds.
Reform hits the most realistic pain point in enterprise operation - time and cost. Plant products declared for export through Gongbei Guan District can be recognized through information sharing, achieving 'instant transmission of mainland certificates, instant receipt of Macau information, and instant shipment of enterprise goods'. Xu Zhen, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Department of Gongbei Customs, said. This "instant delivery" electronic certificate is another micro vivid footnote to the "soft connectivity" of the Greater Bay Area rules and mechanisms. As of the end of last year, Gongbei Customs has ensured efficient and convenient supply of 10080 batches of animal and plant products to Australia.
New Service: Lithium Battery Overseas "Tutoring Course"
In the conference room of Zhuhai Chutai New Energy Co., Ltd., a customs themed tutorial on "Lithium Battery Clearance Policy" has just ended. This type of targeted policy interpretation is crucial for us to expand into the international market, "said Chen Xiaoliang, Sales Director of Chuxing New Energy.
As one of the "new three types" of foreign trade, the lithium battery track continues to be hot. Zhuhai lithium battery foreign trade enterprises are operating at full capacity, expanding production capacity, grabbing orders, and continuously increasing export scale. Gongbei Customs follows the trend and actively builds a full chain service mechanism of "demand tracking policy push system construction". By providing in-depth interpretation of key requirements such as international transportation safety certification and EU technical standards through "door-to-door education", we aim to help enterprises build a capability system to cope with foreign technical trade measures.
The products we export are mostly used for household and outdoor electricity. Since the beginning of this year, the export volume of our main products has increased by about 250% year-on-year. Next, we plan to explore the African market, and our production capacity is expected to double compared to this year! "Chen Xiaoliang excitedly introduced. In response to the export demand of emerging industries, Gongbei Customs has innovatively implemented pre inspection, "batch inspection" reform, and graded and classified management based on enterprise credit and product risk. With the support of a series of measures, the cumulative export of lithium batteries by enterprises in the jurisdiction will reach 14.16 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 208.2%.