The “Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement” (RCEP) adopted on November 15 covers a population of more than 3.5 billion, accounting for 47.4% of the world’s total GDP, 32.2% of the world’s GDP, and 29.1% of the world’s total international trade, making it the world’s largest population covered, the most potential free trade zone negotiation.
After the agreement is reached, it will further promote the integration of industries and value chains in the region, and inject strong momentum into regional economic integration. Its members include 10 ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, a total of 16 parties. The goal of RCEP is to eliminate internal trade barriers, create and improve a free investment environment, and expand service trade. It will also involve regional cooperation in multiple areas such as intellectual property protection and competition policy.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Commerce, in the first three quarters of 2020, China’s total trade with other RCEP members reached US$1,055 billion, accounting for about one-third of my country’s total foreign trade. In addition, China-Japan free trade relations have been newly established through RCEP, and China’s trade coverage with free trade partners will increase from the current 27% to 35%.
The achievement of RCEP will help expand China’s export market space and meet the needs of domestic import consumption.
Seven countries in the RCEP agreement can sell e-cigarettes. Among them, the countries that explicitly prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes are Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and other 7 countries; South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and other 7 countries allow the sale of e-cigarettes, but basically, the business need to obtain a license or sales license from the relevant department.
According to the big data statistics of Leyi e-cigarettes, in 2019, a total of 218 countries around the world imported e-cigarettes from China, with a total purchase amount of 76.585 billion yuan.
Among them, among the top ten countries and regions in the purchase of electronic cigarettes in China, three countries are signatories of this RCEP agreement, namely: Japan (imports of 8.225 billion yuan, accounting for 10.74% of China’s total exports), South Korea ( The import value was 1.990 billion yuan, accounting for 2.60% of China’s total export value), Malaysia (the import value was 1.104 billion yuan, accounting for 1.44% of China’s total export value).
In addition, according to the data from the Ministry of Commerce website, the current seven countries that can sell e-cigarettes, the tariff rates for imported Chinese e-cigarettes are Vietnam 30%, South Korea 24%, Indonesia 10%, Malaysia 5%, Laos 5%, and Japan 3.4%. , Philippines 3%.
The goods trade content of the RCEP agreement proposes that the total number of zero-tariff products in the future will reach more than 90%, and tariff reductions will mainly be reduced to zero tariffs immediately and commitments to zero tariffs within ten years, and the addition of Japan-China, South Korea-China free trade relations between the two important countries.
Taking into account that Japan and South Korea are currently the main exporters of e-cigarettes in China, under the RCEP framework, with the sharp reduction of e-cigarette tariffs and the further increase in market demand in Japan and South Korea, it is expected to provide a larger increase China’s e-cigarette exports.
In addition, other countries that allow the sale of e-cigarettes but still have higher e-cigarette import tariffs (such as Vietnam) are expected to gradually increase their imports of Chinese e-cigarettes in the future as the tax rate decreases.
