CHINA. Offshore duty free sales in Hainan province supervised by Haikou Customs reached CNY34.94 billion (US$4.89 billion) for the first nine months, up +28.6% year-on-year.
The performance was revealed by Haikou Customs Spokesperson Ju Chunmei on 16 October at a press conference on Hainan’s foreign trade situation.
The number of purchases reached 41.5 million, an increase of +6.7% year-on-year; while the number of shoppers was 5.25 million, up 56.3%. The 2022 baseline was skewed by the prolonged store closures in August and September last year due to a COVID outbreak on the island.
Ju Chunmei said, “In the first three quarters, cosmetics, jewellery and watches were the top three duty free hot-selling goods on Hainan island with shopping amounts of CN¥14.09 billion (US$$1.97 billion), CN¥0.5 billion (US$70 million) and CN¥3.66 billion (US$511.6 million) respectively – increases of +4.8%, +71.4% and +50% respectively.
“During the same period, the purchase of bags, clothing and mobile phones increased by +74.3%, +92.7% and +15.8% respectively.”
In April, as reported, in addition to the original ‘mail delivery’ or ‘return to the island for pick up’ methods, the Hainan authorities introduced the more convenient ‘guarantee and pick up’ and ‘buy and pick up’ methods for shoppers.
Travellers can use the ‘guarantee and pick up’ for duty free goods with a unit price of CNY50,000 (US$7,000) or above.
Passengers can choose the ‘buy and pick up’ method for goods in the policy list with a unit price of CNY20,000 (US$2,800) or less – in line with the limited purchase quantity requirements of each type per person. ‘Buy and pick up’ reduces the pressure of logistics distribution and warehousing, while ‘guarantee and pick up’ helps meets the shopping demands of consumers.
Since the implementation of the new policy, Haikou Customs has supervised ‘buy and pick up’ shopping to the tune of CN¥1.66 billion (US$232.4 million), while ‘guarantee and pick up’ purchases have reached CN¥41.37 million (US$5.78 million).
According to Haikou Customs statistics, from the implementation of offshore duty free shopping in April 2011 until 16 October this year, Haikou Customs has supervised total offshore duty free sales of CNY202.4 billion (US$28.3 billion), with 37.22 million shopping trips and 268 million items purchased. ✈
