In the first quarter of 2021, Harbin achieved a total import and export value of 6.86 billion yuan ($1.03 billion), a year-on-year increase of 23.4 percent.
 
Among them, exports were 3.84 billion yuan, increasing 30.3 percent year-on-year, while imports were 3.02 billion yuan, increasing 15.6 percent year-on-year.
 
With the implementation of customs clearance facilitation measures, the overall customs clearance time for imports and exports in Harbin was 187.6 hours and 0.7 hours, respectively, a reduction of more than 50 percent compared with 2017.
 
The overall customs clearance time for exports was the fastest in China’s history.
 
Using the “single window” of international trade and the government’s customs service platform, Harbin Customs has simultaneously launched telephone appointments for customs clearance, inspection and release.
 
In the first quarter, 188 customs clearance orders were made through telephone appointments, with a total value of $38 million.
 
Meanwhile, Harbin Customs opened a face-to-face video contact system, allowing foreign trade enterprises to handle customs business without an on-site visit to the customs department.
 
During the same period, Harbin Customs streamlined the import and export supervision certificates and attached documents. As a result, the filing time for export food production enterprises was reduced from 20 working days to five working days.
 
A total of 89 import and export customs declaration enterprises were newly added.
 
Additionally, Harbin Customs accelerated the customs clearance time of China-Europe freight trains.
 
From January to March, China-Europe freight trains handled 2,852 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit), a year-on-year increase of 204 percent.