On September 22nd, a technical trade measures seminar under the theme "Technical Trade Support, Assisting Enterprises to Go Global" was co-hosted in Chengdu by the General Administration of Customs' Standard and Technical Regulation Center, Chengdu Customs, and Chongqing Customs. During the event, it was revealed that Sichuan's agricultural exports totaled 5.86 billion yuan in the first eight months of this year, marking a 7% year-on-year increase, with steady progress in both export scale and product variety.
Experts from multiple customs authorities, including the General Administration of Customs' Standard and Technical Regulation Center, as well as Chengdu, Chongqing, Taiyuan, and Qingdao Customs, delivered presentations on topics such as responding to technical trade measures, regulatory requirements in major overseas target markets, market access and compliance practices for fruit exports, and export procedures for agricultural and food products. The offline event gathered more than 200 representatives from 167 agricultural export enterprises in the Chengdu-Chongqing region, while the online live stream attracted nearly 14,000 views.
A customs officer from Suining Customs, under Chengdu Customs, conducts sampling for safety risk monitoring on exported lemons. (Photo provided by Chengdu Customs)
"This initiative is a concrete step under the special action plan 'Chengdu-Chongqing Customs Escort for Agricultural and Food Product Exports' aimed at expanding exports from the region," said an official from the Animal and Plant Inspection and Quarantine Department of Chengdu Customs. Since the beginning of this year, Chengdu Customs has been focusing on building a government-enterprise service platform, cultivating branded export products, and smoothing export channels to help more distinctive Sichuan agricultural products reach domestic and international markets.
Regarding the establishment of the government-enterprise service platform, Chengdu Customs, together with the Sichuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, introduced 17 measures to support the expansion of agricultural and food product exports from the province, and jointly conducted special policy briefings attended by over 200 enterprises from various cities and prefectures. A provincial-level digital comprehensive service platform for agricultural product trade has also been jointly developed, connecting major exporters and production bases across the province to provide end-to-end services covering production sources, trade channels, warehousing and logistics, and customs declaration for export.
In terms of cultivating branded export products, Chengdu Customs leads the development of a regional supervision model characterized by "government leadership, enterprise responsibility, multi-party collaboration, industry self-discipline, and customs oversight." This has expanded the regionally registered area for export-oriented agricultural planting bases to 323,000 mu, with 231 new enterprises added to the recommended export registration list. Through a "one product, one policy" approach to precisely address bottlenecks and challenges faced by exporters, more than 20 agricultural and food products—including Chengdu fish mint, Liangshan blueberries, and Aba Tibetan pigs—have achieved first-time exports. Meanwhile, lemon and fish oil exports continue to rank first nationally in value.
To clear export pathways, Chengdu Customs has strengthened coordination with Kunming and Chongqing Customs, jointly tackling foreign technical trade measures and standard services, and exploring a "local customs plus border port" joint supervision model for fresh fruits to boost exports of items such as fresh produce and wild mushrooms. Given the time-sensitive nature of exporting fresh agricultural products from inland regions, Chengdu Customs has deepened reforms in batch inspection and quarantine for agricultural products, enabling grapes and lemons to benefit from "centralized inspection and batch release," thereby continuously improving customs clearance efficiency.