A customs agency was established in the city of Shaoyang, central China's Hunan Province, on Thursday to promote the city's foreign trade, according to local authorities.
Shaoyang Customs will offer a series of services in foreign trade for local enterprises and will be responsible for customs clearance, commodity inspection, smuggling investigation and other duties. Previously, the duties were handled by Zhuzhou Customs and Shaoshan Customs in the province.
After the unveiling ceremony, the customs completed the customs clearance procedures for its first declaration form for a batch of products worth 597,000 U.S. dollars exported to Nigeria.
The city's imports and exports in the first quarter of this year totaled 5.6 billion yuan (about 791.3 million U.S. dollars), up 42 percent year on year. The exports during the period reached 5.48 billion yuan, up 44.8 percent year on year.
