Haiyue Lighthouse,a landmark of Weihai, Shandong province [Photo/VCG]

Weihai's trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) expanded 10.2 percent year-on-year to 23.79 billion yuan ($3.63 billion) in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for more than 50 percent of the city’s total, according to statistics from Weihai customs.

During this period, the imports and exports value of Weihai totaled 42.41 billion yuan, up 3.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its five free-trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The RCEP agreement, which took effect at the beginning of this year, has created a super large integrated regional market, which is expected to inject vitality into the global economy amid the resurgence of COVID-19, Weihai customs authorities said.

"Japan is the only RCEP member country to implement a bilateral tariff reduction with China for the first time, and the tariff reduction has doubled the orders of many enterprises in Weihai that export to Japan," said Song Xilin, an official from Weihai customs.

In the first quarter of this year, Weihai customs issued 1,703 RCEP certificates of origin for 227 enterprises, and goods worth more than 420 million yuan enjoyed tax concessions from RCEP members.

To enable enterprises to better enjoy the benefits of RCEP policies, Weihai customs has launched a series of activities to promote rules of origin and tariff concessions under the RCEP, and sorted out the list of key preferential products.