Why do Hubei enterprises always suffer losses in foreign trade?

“Last month, another batch of goods got stuck at the customs and lost more than 100,000 yuan...” Mr. Zhang from Wuhan shook his head when talking about foreign trade business. There are not a few small and medium-sized enterprise owners like him in Hubei Province - although the product quality is excellent, they always stumble in links such as customs declaration, logistics, and tax refund. Today, let's talk about how professional Hubei export agencies can become the "customs clearance password" for enterprises to go global.

According to the data of Wuhan Customs, among the enterprises in Hubei Province with export performance in 2023, about 67% chose to complete the first-order transaction through agency services. Behind this are three painful realities:

• The error rate of customs declaration documents is as high as 42%, with an average delay of 3.7 working days per order
• The average cycle for small and medium-sized enterprises to handle export tax rebates on their own is as long as 89 days
• The annual claim amount for goods losses caused by unfamiliarity with international logistics standards exceeds tens of millions of yuan

Ms. Li from Yichang once tried to export independently, and as a result, the whole batch of oranges was detained due to the wrong filling of the HS code. "Later, I found a professional agency like Zhongshitong, not only did the customs declaration speed double, but also the logistics cost was reduced by 20% through their overseas warehouse network," she said.

Different from the coastal areas, Hubei export agency enterprises are better at solving the special pain points of inland enterprises:

• Resource integration of the Yangtze River Golden Waterway: The weekly-class shipping route directly from Yangluo Port to Japan and South Korea saves 35% of the cost compared to land transportation
• Special program for characteristic industries: Customized clearance plans are formulated for local advantageous industries such as optoelectronics and auto parts
• Tax planning ability: Using the policies of Hubei Free Trade Zone, the highest can strive for an additional 3% tax rebate subsidy for enterprises

How to distinguish a reliable service provider? Please pay attention to these key indicators:

• Whether it holds the qualification of an AEO advanced certification enterprise
• The proportion of overseas cooperation networks covering the target market
• The average customs clearance time data of historical customers
• The ability to provide a digital tracking system
• Whether there is experience in successfully handling trade frictions cases

A certain mechanical manufacturing enterprise in Xiangyang once missed a $2 million order due to the lack of ASEAN certification experience of the agency. Now they require the partner to provide at least 3 practical operation cases of RCEP member states.

Using the "Customs Robot" to automatically generate customs declaration forms and using blockchain technology to realize real-time query of tax refund progress... Leading Hubei agencies are undergoing intelligent transformation. A customer manager of a certain agency company revealed: "Now 80% of the export process can be completed through the mobile APP, and enterprise personnel no longer have to carry documents to run the government affairs hall."

When you are in a coffee shop in East Lake High-tech Zone and hear the people at the next table talking about "Last week's batch of optical fiber components arrived in Germany in 48 hours", don't be surprised - this is likely to be the "Hubei speed" created by professional agencies. Is your enterprise ready to take off with the help? Welcome to share your foreign trade story in the comment area.