On the morning of May 24th, Deputy Commissioner LYU Xiaobin of Ningbo Customs (also Deputy Secretary of Ningbo Customs' Party Committee) inspected Ningbo Sellers Union Group for the recent business operation. Sellers Union Group’s President XU Pingju welcomed LYU with warm hospitality and reported on recent situation during a brief conference.
Accompanying Customs officials included: ZHANG Zhongyi, Director of Ningbo Customs' Commodity Inspection Department; PAN Feng, Director of Ningbo Customs' Business Administration and Inspection Department; ZHANG Zhibin, Director of Ningbo Customs' General Affairs Department; WU Yongmin, Director of Ningbo Free Trade Zone (NBFTZ) Customs; WU Zongtao, Head of NBFTZ Customs' Commodity Inspection Office; and CEN Chun, Head of NBFTZ Customs' General Affairs Office.
Group's attending representatives included: ZHU Ling, Assistant to President; HUANG Hui, General Manager of Group's affiliated Dongmeng Trading; FANG Fang, Deputy General Manager of Administration Department; and XI Jingjing, Director of Documentation and Shipping Department.
In his report on the recent business operation, President XU expected that the Group would sustain its growth momentum and register a revenue of over $400 million in the first 5 months of this year. He said that given the ongoing Ukraine crisis, some clients were discouraged from placing orders and had slowed down their pace of shipment. Besides, the efficiency of domestic supply chains was significantly undermined while the ocean freight rates remained relatively high. Despite the uncertainties of the international market, XU was still confident that by virtue of our group resource advantages and industrial experience over so many years, we would be sure to realize high-quality development in the future.
During the conference, the two sides exchanged views on such topics as intellectual property rights, facilitation of customs clearance, as well as inspection and quarantine policies. Customs officials proposed that for the sake of avoiding intellectual property disputes, foreign trade enterprises should attach importance to intellectual property work, and strengthen their collection and sorting of trademark supporting materials. Customs inspection departments, labs and foreign trade enterprises should enhance discussion and coordination over the testing standards of some imported products. Enterprises should proceed from their own development priorities, closely follow related FTZ policies (like those on bonded businesses and cross-border pre-warehousing) for sound business development. It's worth mentioning that group's affiliated Union Source is an advanced certified enterprise under GACC's AEO Program. Union Vision, another subsidiary of the Group, has also applied for the 'advanced certified enterprise' status. Ningbo Customs will facilitate such applications with appropriate guidance, so that enterprises can have a more tangible sense of gain.
At the end of the conference, Deputy Commissioner LYU made a few concluding remarks. He said that this inspection was driven by the urgent need of Ningbo Customs to better serve enterprises under the current situation. It was heartening that Sellers Union Group had maintained stable growth despite some fluctuations of its international business.
Such a sound momentum was secured thanks to the forward-looking deployment by Group's leadership, the effective implementation by its executive staff, as well as the industrial experience and competitive advantages over so many years.
LYU said that Sellers Union Group should carry forward the good tradition of sound operation in accordance with laws and regulations, strengthen our internal management, and improve the compliance management system. Going forward, Ningbo Customs will keep up with the evolving development trend, pay close attention to the pains and difficulties of enterprises, continue to improve supporting policies and administrative approaches, so as to effectively boost the vitality of market entities, and help foreign trade enterprises sustain stable and healthy development.
