On May 1, over 6,000 bottles of South Africa wine were cleared at Changsha Huanghua Airport Customs. Benefiting from a tariff measure effective the same day for all 53 African countries with which China has diplomatic relations, the importing company received a tax reduction of 21,000 CNY. This marks the first batch of goods in Hunan Province to benefit from the policy.

The shipment of South African represents a follow-up outcome of the Fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo. Zhang Xin, chairman of Hunan Dayan Information Technology Co., Ltd., said that South African wines were well received by consumers during the expo, where the company engaged with African business partners and reached cooperation agreements. “Following the implementation of zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries with which China has diplomatic relations, companies have seen a significant reduction in overall import costs. Taking wine imports as an example, with an annual import volume of around 100 million CNY, retail prices are expected to drop by approximately 15% to 20%,” Zhang said.

Hunan Province is the pilot zone for in-depth China-Africa economic and trade cooperation and the long-term host of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo. Last year, Hunan’s imports from Africa reached 30.92 billion CNY, up 27.2% year on year. In the first quarter of this year, imports from Africa totaled 7.04 billion CNY, an increase of 21.9%. Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco and Tunisia, newly included under the preferential tariff policy, are key African import sources for Hunan. From January 2025 to March 2026, Changsha Customs levied 9.4258 million CNY in tariffs on imports from these five countries, accounting for 98.1% of total tariffs collected on African imports.

Lan Shengbin, Deputy Director of Changsha Customs, noted that the authority will make full efforts to ensure effective implementation of the policy, streamline tariff administration procedures, and help foreign trade enterprises in Hunan fully access and benefit from all applicable preferential measures. He added that Changsha Customs will also establish a “green channel” for imports of African specialty products to facilitate efficient and expedited customs clearance.

(By Lin Jun, Wang Hui)