Yuncheng customs in North China's Shanxi province issued an RCEP certificate of origin to Shanxi Haogang Heavy Industry Co for its scrapers and press plates of $13,334.5 exported to Australia on Jan 1.

It is the province's first RCEP certificate of origin issued after the RCEP came into effect earlier on the same day. 

Wang Yi, an official of provincial customs department Taiyuan Customs, said that on the same day, RCEP came into effect in the six ASEAN member countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as in China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. More than 90 percent of the goods in the trading bloc will gradually achieve zero tariffs.

RCEP member countries have a large share of trade in goods with Shanxi, and are highly complementary to each other in economy and trade. They have strong potential for cooperation in digital economy, infrastructure construction, equipment manufacturing, coal chemical industry, and the development of specialty agricultural products.

According to statistics from Taiyuan Customs, from January to November 2021, Shanxi's imports and exports to RCEP countries amounted to $9.78 billion, accounting for 30 percent of the province's total imports and exports; and 6,683 certificates of origin were issued to RCEP member countries that have implemented free trade, accounting for 63 percent of the total certificates of origin issued by Shanxi.