China Customs trial to help movement of NZ goods

WELLINGTON - A trial of new Chinese tariff procedures on New Zealand-bonded goods will open up new opportunities for New Zealand exporters under the bilateral free trade agreement, a New Zealand Customs official said Monday.

China's General Administration of Customs and the New Zealand Customs Service announced the new procedures to allow the clearing of New Zealand goods to be held in bonded storage, or special Customs control areas, when they reach China.

The trial new procedures would be a "multiple use" certificate of origin to clear goods placed in bonded storage and declared for part release into the domestic market.

This would allow importers in China to receive the same lower preferential tariff rate for the entire shipment regardless of the multiple parts of the shipment being released into the domestic Chinese market.

"The new procedures allow New Zealand exporters to realize the full benefits available to them under the FTA by enabling China importers to receive tariff preferences on entire shipments of qualifying goods and not just parts of them," New Zealand Customs acting group manager policy Richard Bargh said in a statement.

"A shipment of wine, for example, could save the importer up to 14 percent duty across the whole consignment," said Bargh.

The 12-month trial would commence in the second half of 2013 and involve the six Chinese ports of Guangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Tianjin.

Goods exported from all Chinese ports to New Zealand, which qualify as Chinese origin, would be granted the FTA preferential rate of duty.

The New Zealand-China FTA allows goods of New Zealand origin to enter China at lower duty rates than those applicable to international competitors, and these will fall to zero on most New Zealand goods by 2019.