Beijing nudges ‘Made in China, sold on Amazon’ model along in bid to help smaller exporters

China customs is rolling out a new clearance system for cross-border business-to-business e-commerce across the country from July 1, a move that could give a boost to the popular “Made in China, sold on Amazon” business model for Chinese merchants.

The system is currently applied in dozens of designated areas but the General Administration of Customs has now decided to implement it on a nationwide basis “to promote healthy and orderly development of cross-border e-commerce and to help the expansion of Chinese companies in international markets,” the agency said in a statement.

The change comes after Premier Li Keqiang decided at a regular cabinet meeting last week that China must promote cross-border e-commerce. The Chinese government will encourage its exporters to build up overseas warehouses and enhance cross-border logistics capabilities.

Mainland China's e-commerce exports surged to 1.12 trillion yuan (US$178 billion) in 2020, up 40 per cent from a year earlier, according to the country's Ministry of Commerce. While this new form of cross-border trade accounted for only 6 per cent of China’s total exports, its growth is far stronger than the 4 per cent in China’s 2020 exports as people across the world flocked to online shopping during the pandemic.

Under the new customs administration model, an exporter can sell their goods through e-commerce platforms like Amazon.com and eBay and quickly ship the goods to overseas warehouses as long as the seller, the platform and the shipping company register their information with Chinese customs.