Li Renjun, an economics professor at Hainan University, delivered a speech calling for the development of the offshore trade in Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) during the fourth session of the 7th Hainan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on Jan 25.
Offshore trade is a new trade model emerging with the development of multinational business, and is characterized by the separation of orders, commodity and capital flows.
Hong Kong has defined offshore trade as a comprehensive means to reduce enterprises' import-export costs. Great importance is also attached to offshore trade in Singapore, where it boasts an annualized growth rate of 15 percent.
Hainan FTP. [Photo by Yuan Chen/ For China Daily]
Backed by a series of preferential policies, the offshore trade has taken off in Hainan. The first deal was made by China SDIC International Trade (Hainan) Co Ltd which purchased $75.03 million worth of cotton from Brazil. The commodities were sold to Hong Kong directly, with orders placed and transactions made in Hainan. In 2020, the total offshore trade volume in Hainan reached $1.8 billion.
To realize further development, Li advised Hainan to attract more offshore trade enterprises from around the globe, especially from the world's top 500 enterprises, transnational enterprises and high-level banks.
In addition, guide funds can be set up to support logistics, finance and trade enterprises to engage in offshore trade, accompanied by well-rounded supportive services in the areas of finance, law, auditing and insurance.
Local authorities are also advised to enhance supervision of offshore trade and increase its informatization level through technologies such as big data and cloud computing.
