China has been actively expanding its imports despite the negative impact brought by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Customs staff check imported bananas at the Waigaoqiao Port Area in east China’s Shanghai. (Xinhua/Wang Xia)

The country’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) recently called on local customs authorities to ease customs transit for imports of epidemic prevention and control supplies and materials urgently needed by enterprises to resume work.

Local customs authorities should also speed up procedures for granting permission for agricultural products and food imports, and open special channels to fast-track clearance services for such products at major ports, according to the GAC.

Data released by the GAC on March 31 shows that meat imports soared by 69.6 percent year on year to 1.3 million tons during the first two months of 2020. In particular, imports of pork and pork entrails skyrocketed by 98.2 percent from a year earlier to 720,000 tons.

Since Feb. 1, the GAC has approved imports of 14 other types of animal and plant products including fish oil, fish meal and feed additives from seven countries, as well as registration of more than 600 foreign enterprises in China, said Jin Hai, a senior official with the GAC, on March 30.

He added that the customs authority also imported 367,000 tons of dairy products, an increase of 38.3 percent year on year, and imported 707,000 tons of meat including pork, beef and mutton, a year-on-year rise of 115.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced that it would actively increase imports of goods, ensure the success of the third China International Import Expo, and boost facilitation of imports.

Some bonded areas have also seen growth of imports despite the epidemic. In the Ningbo Bonded Area in east China’s Zhejiang province, cross-border e-commerce imports soared by 42.5 percent to 2.4 billion yuan.

The import and export value of cross-border e-commerce in the first two months surged 36.7 percent to 17.4 billion yuan (about $2.5 billion), unleashing great potential amid the epidemic, according to the MOC.

Data from the ministry shows that China is the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, accounting for about 11 percent of total global imports.