Zero-Tariff Policy Empowers Coffee Exports: Hainan Free Trade Port Opens New Global Supply Chain Channel

 On November 1, 2025, amidst the rising and lowering of dock cranes at Hainan's Yangpu Port, a batch of goods labeled "Xing'ao Hazelnut Flavor Coffee Beans" was steadily loaded onto a vessel and set sail for Australia in the Southern Hemisphere. This was no ordinary cargo shipment; it marked the first practical application of the Hainan Free Trade Port’s "zero-tariff" policy for raw and auxiliary materials in the coffee sector.

This inaugural import and export trade deal for the coffee category, completed under the "two ends outside" model (importing raw materials, processing, and exporting the finished product), and its symbolic trade chain spanning half the globe, signals the substantial realization of the Hainan Free Trade Port's policy benefits within the coffee industry.

01. Benefit Release: Policy Empowerment Behind the Formation of a Cross-Border Supply Chain

The core driver behind the formation of this trade model is the continuous deepening of policy innovation within the Hainan Free Trade Port. According to recent joint notices on raw and auxiliary materials "zero-tariff" policy adjustments issued by the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Taxation Administration, unroasted coffee beans have been included in the "zero-tariff" commodity list, offering a crucial entry point for cost optimization for coffee businesses.

As per the policy, independent legal entities registered in the Hainan Free Trade Port that import raw and auxiliary materials for production under the "two ends outside" model can enjoy exemptions from import tariffs, import-stage VAT (Value-Added Tax), and consumption tax. This is helping businesses build a cross-border supply chain characterized by "global sourcing, Hainan processing, and international market sales."

In the coffee export business, this policy benefit translates into tangible competitiveness: the tariff and VAT costs for imported raw and auxiliary materials are significantly reduced, effectively boosting the price advantage of Hainan-processed coffee in the international market. Such "zero-tariff" policies are more than just simple cost reduction; they provide businesses with the confidence to utilize global resources, thus promoting Hainan's upgrade from a coffee processing base to a cross-border supply chain hub.


02. Service Escort: Customs' Precise Matching to Connect the "Last Mile"

The effectiveness of policy implementation depends on comprehensive, end-to-end service support. To ensure businesses fully understand the policy and experience smooth customs clearance, the Yecheng Customs (subordinate to Haikou Customs) intervened early, launching "one-on-one" targeted guidance. Dedicated personnel followed up on every critical step, from enterprise qualification filing and the establishment of processing ledgers to the calculation of green coffee bean consumption unit quotas and "Single Window" system declaration, ensuring a streamlined process with no bottlenecks.

Wenchang Customs provided proactive services directly at the production front lines, through initiatives like "The Director Brings Policy to Your Door" and "Service Packages for Enterprises." They worked "face-to-face" with businesses to help them improve their internal management systems and become familiar with declaration standards. To address initial confusion, Customs also activated an enterprise-customs coordinator mechanism, providing full-time online and offline responses and customizing "one policy for one enterprise" solutions. This "policy + service" combination significantly shortened the time it took for businesses to move from policy awareness to actual benefit, ensuring that "benefits reach the target directly."


03. Industry Leap: From Overseas Chinese Flavor to International Hub

This first coffee export is a microcosm of the transformation and upgrade of Hainan's coffee industry. Since overseas Chinese brought back the first coffee seeds a century ago, Hainan has had a deep connection with coffee, with areas like Xinglong in Wanning forming a profound foundation for cultivation and processing. However, for a long time, issues like limited cultivation scale and high logistics costs meant that Hainan coffee largely existed as a "small but beautiful" local flavor, struggling to reach the broader international market.

The support of the Free Trade Port policy is now breaking these constraints. In recent years, Hainan coffee businesses have been actively expanding domestic and international markets. Roasted coffee beans from some cities and counties have achieved breakthroughs in export business. Simultaneously, some enterprises are exploring a "raw material import + processing + domestic sales" business model through pilot policies, fostering a "dual circulation" pattern (domestic and international). From the inheritance of traditional overseas Chinese hometown flavor to standardized specialty roasting, and from single-process manufacturing to the integration of "coffee + cultural tourism," Hainan coffee is reshaping its industrial ecosystem with an open stance.

Today, the cargo ship from Yangpu Port has sailed with the scent of coffee toward the Southern Hemisphere, but the journey of Hainan coffee to the world has just begun. This zero-tariff coffee shipment not only carries the industrial memory of a century-old overseas Chinese hometown but also proves the practical value of the Free Trade Port's institutional innovation. With the release of more policy benefits and the refinement of the supply chain, Hainan is poised to become an important hub connecting global bean sources with the international market, allowing the world to understand the open vitality of China's Free Trade Port through its rich coffee aroma.

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