Editor’s Note
One month after the launch of customs closure operations, Hainan Free Trade Port is witnessing a tangible acceleration in liberalization, driven by sustained policy dividends. This report captures the bustling commercial activity and infrastructure upgrades shaping its new phase of open development.
On January 18th, the Hainan Free Trade Port marked one month of customs closure operations. Reporters visiting various locations in Hainan found that policy dividends continue to be released, commercial activities are bustling with vitality, the transportation network is being upgraded and becoming denser, presenting a new atmosphere of open development.
At Hainan Haikou Jewelry Co., Ltd. located in Sanya, under the professional lights in the workshop, workers focus intently, using magnifying glasses to meticulously inlay gemstones into silver jewelry settings with fine tweezers.
As a company possessing the entire production process technology for gemstones, Haikou Jewelry is a direct beneficiary of Hainan FTP’s processing and value-added policies. Its high value-added processed products can be sold domestically after customs clearance, and the company has also leveraged this to transform from a retail business into a comprehensive industrial operation and trading company.
Zhang Shizhong, Chairman of the company, stated that currently, the company is actively preparing for a gemstone bidding conference. By comprehensively utilizing various FTP policies, it can achieve breakthroughs such as “zero consumption tax, no supervision, no re-transportation time limits, and processability” for imported gemstone products.
According to Haikou Customs statistics, from the closure on December 18, 2025, to January 17, Haikou Customs supervised 7.5 billion yuan of “zero-tariff” goods under the “first line,” and supervised 85.867 million yuan of processed and value-added goods sold domestically under the “second line.”
Guan Jixun, Executive Vice Governor of the Hainan Provincial Government (also Director of the FTP Work Office), said that after the closure, the Hainan FTP will play a leading role in promoting high-level opening-up to the outside world.
The bustling flow of people is a unique landscape after the closure.
At the Hainan FTP (Eastern) International Agricultural Products Industry High-Quality Development Conference held on January 13th, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, signed a cooperation agreement with Dongfang City.
Sobolevsky, Deputy Governor of Kharkiv Oblast, expressed.
Since January, delegations from some domestic and foreign local governments, chambers of commerce, and universities have been arriving in succession for cooperation talks and inspection signings. According to Haikou Customs statistics, in the month since the closure, Haikou Customs supervised 311,000 inbound and outbound personnel at Hainan’s air and seaports, a year-on-year increase of 48.8%.
Attracted by the benefits of the FTP closure, more and more enterprises are coming to Hainan to do business. In the past month, Hainan has newly registered 5,132 foreign trade enterprises.
Off-island duty-free shopping is heating up again. At the Sanya International Duty-Free City, consumers browse through various brand boutiques, selecting their favorite merchandise.
Tourist Ms. Li from Beijing selected a digital camera. The camera enjoys off-island duty-free benefits and in-store promotional discounts, saving her nearly a thousand yuan compared to buying it in Beijing.
According to Haikou Customs statistics, from December 18, 2025, to January 17, 2026, Haikou Customs supervised off-island duty-free shopping worth 4.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.8%; the number of shoppers was 745,000 person-times, a year-on-year increase of 30.2%; and the number of purchased items was 3.494 million pieces, a year-on-year increase of 14.6%.
On December 22, 2025, at Sanya Phoenix International Airport, 115 European tourists disembarked from an aircraft of Kharkiv Airlines. This flight from Zagreb marks the official opening of China’s first seventh-freedom passenger route, a key step in the high-level opening of Hainan FTP’s aviation sector.
The seventh freedom, also known as full third-country transport rights, refers to the right of an airline from one country or region to operate independent routes entirely outside its home territory, carrying passengers and cargo between two foreign countries or regions.
While air routes are expanding, maritime routes are also being upgraded.
Lin Shibin, Station Master of the Yazhou Branch of the Hainan Provincial Ship Attraction Station, said that since the closure, the weekly volume of large vessel calls has increased significantly, with a cumulative total of over 460 calls from domestic and foreign ships, representing a year-on-year increase of nearly 20% in large vessel call volume.