China eases Hong Kong customs headache

Hong Kong has signed a deal with Chinese customs officials introducing an online system designed to dramatically speed up wine shipments to the mainland.

Hong Kong and Chinese customs officials raise a toast following the deal

The move marks a relaxation of the measures agreed in 2010, which required Hong Kong firms to ship wine via one of nine approved mainland importers in a process which could take several months.

As a result of the agreement signed on 18 September with immediate effect, any Hong Kong merchant who has been trading for more than six months can undergo an online vetting process by Chinese customs officials.

Once approved, they will be able to upload the names, prices and receipts of wines and see their shipment cleared from designated ports in Shenzhen and Guangzhou within a day.

According to Hong Kong customs data, 3.6 million litres of wine have been re-exported from the region to China between the signing of the original agreement in 2010 and August 2014.

Although Hong Kong’s merchants benefited hugely from the removal of wine duty in 2008, recent years have seen Chinese importers shift towards shipping wine direct from its country of origin.

As a result of this, combined with the recent Chinese government austerity measures, shipments between Hong Kong and China have fallen in recent years so this latest move aims to help Hong Kong merchants remain competitive.

The news has been broadly welcomed by Hong Kong merchants. Exporter Tsoi Siu-Lam told the South China Morning Post of the problems caused by the previous set-up, claiming that mainland customs officers “would doubt the quoted prices of products. Sometimes it took a month or two to clear the goods. And the success rate of clearance was only about 80%,” he reported.