The official opening of the Hainan Free Trade Port is a crucial step in implementing the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port." After more than five years of pilot preparations, a policy system centered on "zero tariffs, low tax rates, and a simplified tax system" has been formed. The core policies directly related to the petrochemical industry include two main directions: First, the expansion of duty-free imports at the "first line" (the border between the mainland and Hainan Free Trade Port), increasing the number of zero-tariff goods from 1,900 to 6,600, covering 74% of tariff items. Core petrochemical raw materials such as crude oil, naphtha, propane, and PTA are fully included in the negative list management, exempting them from import duties, import value-added tax, and consumption tax, except for specific taxable goods. Second, the optimization of duty-free processing at the "second line" (the border between the mainland and Hainan Free Trade Port), exempting goods produced by enterprises in encouraged industries with a processing value-added exceeding 30% (inclusive) from import duties when entering the mainland via the "second line." Furthermore, new rules for calculating cumulative value-added across the industrial chain have been added, significantly reducing the difficulty for enterprises to meet the standards. For oil refining companies, crude oil accounts for over 70% of production costs, and the zero-tariff policy can directly reduce raw material costs by 3-5 percentage points. For polyolefin companies, the elimination of tariffs on raw materials such as propane and ethylene can reduce overall costs by 8-10%. On the day the customs were closed, the first batch of "zero-tariff" petrochemical raw materials arrived in Yangpu as scheduled. This batch of "zero-tariff" petrochemical raw materials imported 179,000 tons, valued at nearly 400 million yuan, allowing companies to achieve zero-tariff imports and save approximately 10 million yuan.
With fierce competition in my country's domestic chemical fiber production capacity and the gradual rise of overseas textile production capacity, the importance of chemical fiber exports is constantly being elevated. After the customs closure, the first line of export is completely open, and exports of refined oil, polyethylene, and paraxylene (PX) still enjoy zero tariffs. Furthermore, the pre-approval of export quotas has been eliminated, replaced by "registration + post-verification," allowing companies to flexibly connect with the East Asian spot market. According to statistics from China Customs, the total export volume of major chemical fiber products from January to June reached 3.45 million tons, an increase of 14.73% year-on-year. Among them, polyester staple fiber exports increased by 29.14% year-on-year. Notably, in May alone, monthly exports of polyester staple fiber reached 160,000 tons, the highest monthly level in nearly 11 years. The main reason for the rapid growth in polyester staple fiber exports in recent years is the strong demand for polyester raw materials such as polyester staple fiber from Southeast Asia and South Asia.
In addition, the demand for upstream polyester raw materials such as PTA and PX is also continuously increasing overseas. From January to September, the average monthly PTA export volume was around 320,000 tons, and in September, PTA exports reached 344,000 tons, returning to above the annual average. This may be due to the market being in the traditional peak demand season, with increased polyester consumption in the textile and apparel industry, indirectly benefiting PTA. Taking Vietnam, where the apparel industry is developing rapidly, as an example, PTA exports to Vietnam exceeded 60,000 tons in September, up 42.23% month-on-month and 66.50% year-on-year. Besides exports, policy stipulates that chemical products processed in Hainan with a value-added of 30% and sold to the mainland only need to pay value-added tax and consumption tax, exempting them from import duties, which will also significantly reduce the production costs of enterprises.
