Shantou Free Trade Zone

Shantou Free Trade Zone [Photo/southcn.com]

Shantou Free Trade Zone (FTZ) is located in the southern part of the downtown area of Shantou, Guangdong province, covering an area of 3.34 square kilometers. It was established with the approval of the State Council in January 1993, and came into operation in December the same year. Shantou FTZ is currently the only special customs supervision area in eastern Guangdong province with the function of developing international trade, warehousing logistics and export processing. 

Shantou FTZ has formed three major industrial advantages in recent years, including the warehousing and logistics industry, with the world's top 500 enterprises as the main body, the high-tech industry, which is based on cooperation between private enterprises and colleges and universities, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the large-scale light industry, which are mainly fuelled by foreign capital and private capital, such as edible oils, electronic appliances, chemical fiber textiles, medicines, and advanced packaging materials. 

In the first half of 2018, the gross domestic product of Shantou FTZ was 1.42 billion yuan ($209.23 million). The total industrial output value and the added value of industries above designated size reached 1.77 billion yuan and 258 million yuan, an increase of 16.2 percent and 12.3 percent respectively. By the end of June, 10 high-tech enterprises were introduced to the FTZ, accounting for 58.8 percent of the enterprises above designated size.

The FTZ achieved total domestic trade sales of 1.08 billion yuan, an increase of 83.8 percent. The total import and export volume was 659 million yuan, an increase of 33.6 percent. It has a total investment of 378 million yuan in fixed assets, a substantial increase of 108.4 percent year-on-year. The general public budget revenue was 32.26 million yuan, an increase of 46.5 percent, and the tax revenue exceeds 1.2 billion yuan, accounting for 97.3 percent of budget revenue.