On April 15, China officially deposited the approval document of regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP) with ASEAN, marking that China has officially completed the RCEP approval procedure and become the first member state among non ASEAN countries to formally complete the approval procedure. Liu Yaozhong, deputy director of the International Trade Office of China Textile Industry Federation, said in an exclusive interview with the Economic Daily that for China's textile and garment industry, RCEP will have a far-reaching positive impact on the industry to expand the scale of foreign trade and deepen industrial chain and supply chain cooperation.

As the world's largest textile and garment market, China plays an important role in the global textile industry chain. At present, the scale of China's textile industry has exceeded 50% of the world, the output of chemical fiber accounts for 70% of the world, and the trade accounts for one third of the world; From the perspective of industrial integrity, China has the most complete industrial chain and the most complete product varieties; In terms of manufacturing level, most of the process manufacturing and equipment levels of fiber raw materials, spinning and weaving, clothing and home textile in China have reached the international advanced level.

"The biggest change brought about by RCEP is that China has established a new trade partnership with Japan, and the scale of China Japan textile trade is expected to continue to expand in the future." Liu Yaozhong judged.

At present, Japan is the fourth largest export market of China's textile and garment industry. According to customs data, in 2019, China's textile and garment exports to Japan amounted to US $20.88 billion, accounting for about 7.4% of the industry's total annual exports. According to the relevant statistical data of Japan, China accounted for 58.6% of Japan's total textile and garment imports in 2020. After RCEP takes effect, except for a small number of products such as masks and bedding, tariffs on China's main textiles exported to Japan, such as knitwear, trousers, suits, T-shirts and other products, will be abolished within 16 years.

Liu Yaozhong said that since Japan has signed free trade agreements with ASEAN, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India and other countries, the textile and garment products of these countries can enjoy duty-free treatment for export to Japan. After RCEP takes effect, it will help China's industry to gradually and fairly participate in international competition in the Japanese market, reduce the export cost of foreign trade enterprises and enhance the international competitive advantage of products. At the same time, the original import tax rate of 5% to 8% for major categories of products imported from Japan will be reduced to zero in stages within 11 to 21 years, which is conducive to accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the industry and improving production efficiency.

"From the perspective of regional production cooperation, it is expected to establish a more stable two-way investment environment. With the increase of investment, the improvement of production capacity and closer cooperation, the status of regional manufacturing center will be consolidated." Liu Yaozhong believes that the signing of RCEP will help deepen regional textile and garment industry chain and supply chain cooperation.

He said that the market access rules in the fields of goods, services and investment among Member States will be further relaxed, and the customs procedures and technical standards will be gradually unified. By adopting the rules of origin in the region, it will promote the free flow of economic factors in the region, strengthen the production division and cooperation among members, stimulate the expansion and upgrading of the consumer market in the region, and promote the further development of the industrial chain, supply chain and value chain in the region.

For foreign trade enterprises in China's textile and garment industry, RCEP helps to export more products and enjoy preferential tax measures; On the other hand, it also helps to avoid some trade barriers.

It is understood that after RCEP takes effect, if an enterprise passes the customs certification and becomes an approved manufacturer, it can clear customs only by the enterprise's independent declaration of origin when exporting, and enjoy the preferential treatment of contracting countries, which saves the input, review and application of the certificate of origin, and further reduces the time limit and cost of customs clearance.

Ms. Cao, customs director of Shenzhen robust medical supplies Co., Ltd., was very happy to learn about this provision at the RCEP policy special training meeting organized by Shenzhen customs. She said: "our company issues more than 30 non-woven certificates of origin to Southeast Asia every week. Since the customs launched self-service printing, smart signing and other service measures, the application for certificates of origin can no longer go to the customs site. Unexpectedly, RCEP can also claim customs independently by enterprises, which will be more convenient in the future."