Nantong Customs officers inspect the products slated for export at Jiangsu Hengke Advanced Materials. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

Nantong Customs in Jiangsu province issued a total of 14,541 certificates of origin under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership throughout 2025, with a total declared goods value of about 3.46 billion yuan ($494.05 million).

This year marks the fifth year since the RCEP came into effect. As the world's largest free trade agreement, the RCEP's policy benefits have helped Nantong enterprises deeply integrate into regional industrial chains and expand international trade.

Jiangsu Hengke Advanced Materials, for example, is a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the research, production, and sales of polyester filament and polyester chips. Its products are exported to countries such as South Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In 2025, the company applied for RCEP certificates of origin from Nantong Customs, showing a year-on-year increase of 66.7 percent, with a declared goods value exceeding 10 million yuan.

"With these certificates, our products enjoy significant tariff reductions when clearing customs in RCEP member countries, effectively reducing customer procurement costs and boosting export orders," said Chen Baoyang, a customs declarant at Hengke. In 2026, the company will continue to leverage policy benefits to expand overseas markets, aiming to achieve more than a 15 percent increase in product exports within the RCEP region, according to Chen.

Since coming into effect in January 2022, the RCEP has made remarkable achievements in facilitating trade, integrating industrial chains, and benefiting small and medium-sized enterprises. To better help local enterprises enjoy policy benefits, Nantong Customs has continued explaining policies directly to businesses, guiding them to use rules of origin to optimize production arrangements.