Hainan province will step up efforts to link China with the global economy over the next five years, officials said on Friday, as the island's free trade port enters a new phase following the launch of island-wide special customs operations.

At a State Council Information Office news conference in Haikou, Governor Liu Xiaoming outlined the province's strategy for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), describing it as a pivotal stage in advancing the Hainan Free Trade Port. The new phase follows the launch of island-wide special customs operations on Dec 18, 2025, marking the completion of the FTP's initial development framework.

To support this shift, Hainan will expand institutional opening-up by aligning with international trade rules and standards under frameworks including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, while advancing the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade, Liu said.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Hainan's goods and services trade each grew at an average annual rate of more than 20 percent. For the next five years, the province targets average annual growth of about 10 percent in goods trade and 20 percent in services trade, along with 10 percent annual growth in the actual use of foreign capital.

These policies are already translating into business activity on the ground.

A case in point is the coffee industry. On Dec 18, a batch of blended coffee beans produced by Charoen Pokphand Group (Hainan) Xinglong Coffee Industry Development Co, a Sino-Thai joint venture in Wanning, was shipped from Qionghai Boao International Airport to Beijing.

The beans, sourced from Colombia, were roasted, blended and processed at the company's automated facility in Xinglong Coffee Valley, achieving a value increase of more than 30 percent. The shipment became the first product from Wanning to qualify for the value-added tariff exemption policy for domestic sales.

Earlier, the company began operating under a new model — importing raw materials and exporting finished products. In its first shipment to Australia, it saved 8 percent in import tariffs and 13 percent in value-added tax on coffee beans.

"The most profound change comes from institutional opening," said Ye Jian, general manager of the joint venture. "Hainan is becoming a key node in the global coffee supply chain."

Ye said the province's proximity to Southeast Asian coffee-producing countries, combined with access to China's vast consumer market, gives it a unique advantage. Special customs operations, he added, are lowering costs, improving supply chain efficiency and attracting talent, helping shift Hainan's role from a raw material gateway to a global processing hub.

"A cup of Xinglong coffee might use beans from Colombia, be processed in Hainan and sold in Australia — that's a vivid example of how the Hainan FTP connects China with the world," he said.

Policy support has expanded in tandem. Ahead of the launch of special customs operations, Hainan widened its zero-tariff raw materials list to about 6,600 items, adding unroasted coffee beans and 296 others on Feb 1, 2025. By the end of 2025, the number of eligible companies rose by more than 11,000.