Staff members at Ningbo Customs help the custom clearance of peach exported to overseas market. CHINA DAILY

Ningbo Customs has made great strides in shortening the clearance time of agricultural products, as part of efforts to improve the business environment.

The customs clearance time is one of the key factors to evaluate the business climate of a port, said customs officers.

Especially for importers of agricultural goods, a fast customs clearance is vital to products' freshness and quality, they added.

During the outbreak of COVID-19, Ningbo Customs rolled out 12 measures to support enterprises' import and export of agricultural products.

These included streamlining administrative procedures, simplifying the materials needed for customs clearance and reducing the testing time.

Among the beneficiaries is Genhong Trade, a foreign trade enterprise based in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The company imported more than 300 metric tons of soybeans from Brazil in December 2019.

Due to the pandemic and the change of consignee, the goods had been stuck in the Port of Ningbo for nearly four months.

The company thus had to pay a huge detention fee and soybeans were at risk of deterioration.

Given that it was a special case during the health crisis, Ningbo Customs gave it a priority to deal with the company's customs declaration.