The first London-Yiwu cargo train carrying British products enters China through the Alashankou Port in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 24, 2017. File Photo: Xinhua

The Alashankou port in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has officially opened a green channel for the rapid customs clearance of agricultural and sideline products, which serves as a crucial gateway between China and Kazakhstan, the Global Times learned from Alashankou local government.

During the first week of the trial operation of the green channel, 1,834 vehicles passed through Alashankou port, marking a 36.15 percent increase from the previous week. The volume of import and export freight reached 17,500 tons, which is a 35.65 percent rise from the previous week.

In order to ensure swift clearance of agricultural and sideline products, Alashankou Customs has set up a special channel for agricultural products at the entry and exit inspection stations, with distinctive signs and services windows to give priority to the clearance procedures of vehicles carrying such goods.

The official opening of the green channel will further promote trade in agricultural and sideline products, reduce logistics costs for customs clearance, boost business expansions, the Global Times learned from Xinjiang based cross-border traders.

Yang Haiquan, the deputy general manager of Alashankou Jinmu Biotechnology Co, said that thanks to the opening of the green channel, the company has secured the supply of raw materials and gained more confidence in further development.

The company is mainly engaged in grain, oil and feed intensive processing and imports raw materials from Kazakhstan.

"The opening of the green channel is of great significance to our enterprise and ensured the supply of raw materials which has been the bottleneck problem restricting our development," Yang told the Global Times.

This year, the company plans to carry out the third phase of the project expansion to build a new processing line. Upon completion, it will achieve the annual sales volume of 800 million yuan ($116 million) and create over 260 new jobs.

As the Silk Road Economic Belt continues to deepen, Alashankou will leverage the opening of the rapid customs clearance channel to explore the potential of complementary supply and demand between China and Central Asian countries. It aims to build Alashankou into an essential base for deep processing of agricultural and sideline products, according to the local government.

Global Times