Hong Kong is a “Gourmet Paradise” with world cuisines in one place, with more than 30 million visitors coming to Hong Kong every year, which, coupled with the local resident population of 7.5 million, has exerted immense pressure on the supply of food to this international metropolis with a population density ranking among the top 10 in the world and an area of about 1,100 square kilometers. As Hong Kong is a small place with a large population and scarce agricultural resources, it has to rely on imports for most of the agricultural products for local consumption, and the Mainland is precisely its largest source of agricultural supply. Take vegetables as an example, since 2020, Hong Kong has imported an average of 880 000 tons of vegetables annually, of which about 820 000 tons are imported from the Mainland each year, meaning that more than 93% of the vegetables are supplied by the Mainland. With the implementation of the policy of “one visa for multiple-journey” for Shenzhen to travel to Hong Kong, it will help Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to further integrate and communicate with each other, injecting stronger momentum into Hong Kong's catering, tourism and retail industries, and at the same time providing a broader market space for high-quality vegetables from the Mainland. So, how can Mainland quality vegetables be exported to Hong Kong?

I. Development of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong from the Mainland

The historical origin of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong from the Mainland can be traced back to the early 1960s. Under the cordial care of Premier Zhou Enlai, the Central Government specially arranged for three express trains, numbered 751, 753 and 755, to be loaded with food and agricultural products supplied to Hong Kong on a regular basis every day, arriving in Hong Kong via Shenzhen. This is the famous “Three Express Freight Trains for the Supply of Fresh and Live Frozen Commodities to Hong Kong and Macao”, or the “Three Express Trains” for short.

In recent years, with the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the quantity of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong from the Mainland has been on a growing trend. According to the data released by the Census and Statistics Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Hong Kong imported 990,000 tons of vegetables in 2021, of which 890,000 tons were imported from the Mainland, i.e. an average of nearly 2,500 tons of vegetables were shipped from the Mainland to Hong Kong every day, which is the highest in history, highlighting the fact that Hong Kong people and tourists are increasingly in favor of high-quality vegetables from the Mainland.

Second, how to obtain the qualification for supplying high-quality vegetables from the Mainland to Hong Kong?

According to the “supervision and management of inspection and quarantine of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong and Macao”, the Customs and Excise Department for the supply of vegetable planting bases (hereinafter referred to as planting bases) and supply of vegetable production and processing enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the production and processing enterprises) for the implementation of record management. Planting bases and production and processing enterprises should be filed with the Customs. Without the record of the planting base and its production and processing enterprises shall not be engaged in the production and processing of vegetables for export to Hong Kong. Planting bases, production and processing enterprises or farmers' professional cooperative economic organizations should be planting bases where the Customs to apply for planting bases for the record. For the implementation of regionalized management of planting bases, can be recommended by the relevant departments of the local government to the Customs for the record.

The list of enterprises that have obtained the qualification of filing will be publicized in China Customs import and export enterprise credit information platform. In addition, according to the “supervision and management of inspection and quarantine of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong and Macao” and relevant laws and regulations, vegetables from non-recorded bases shall not be used as processing raw materials for vegetables supplied to Hong Kong, except for small varieties of vegetables otherwise specified by the Customs; the person in charge of the planting bases shall issue documents certifying that each batch of raw materials of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong shall be supplied to Hong Kong as processing raw materials for vegetables supplied to Hong Kong for production; the planting bases and the production and processing enterprises shall strictly strengthen the use of agricultural inputs. Control and management.

C. What issues should be noted before customs clearance of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong from the Mainland?

The Pesticide Residues in Food Regulations (Cap. 132CM) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China has been implemented since August 2014, and vegetables supplied to Hong Kong should comply with the pesticide residue requirements. The Pesticide Residues in Food Regulation covers 360 pesticides and 584 food categories with a total of 7,083 limits, of which 239 pesticide residues involving vegetables are limited to more than 2,000 items. Relevant enterprises can log on to the Hong Kong Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides database of the Center for Food Safety of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China for inquiries.

According to the “Measures for Supervision and Administration of Inspection and Quarantine of Vegetables Supplied to Hong Kong and Macao”, the production and processing enterprises should ensure that the vegetables supplied to Hong Kong comply with the relevant inspection and quarantine requirements of Hong Kong or the Mainland, and carry out testing on the vegetables supplied to Hong Kong. After passing the test, the production and processing enterprises to the location of the Customs inspection, inspection should be submitted to the processing of vegetables supplied to Hong Kong raw materials documents, shipping lists, as well as factory certificates of compliance. In addition, the production and processing enterprises shall indicate the name, address, record number, product name, production date and batch number of the production and processing enterprises on the marking of the transportation package and sales package of the vegetables supplied to Hong Kong.