China, Honduras to implement FTA early harvest arrangement starting from Sunday

China and Honduras will implement the early harvest arrangement of free trade agreement (FTA) starting from Sunday, when some imported goods originating in Honduras will be subject to agreed tax rates under the arrangement, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday.

Chinese experts said the implementation of the early harvest arrangement will inject fresh impetus to China-Honduras economic and trade ties, especially that gaining access to the vast China market will benefit the economic development of Honduras.

Experts are optimistic about the prospect of China-Honduras economic and trade cooperation, projecting that more quality Honduran products such as tobacco, coffee and chocolate will enter China.

In line with the early harvest arrangement of the FTA, China will impose zero tariffs on frozen shrimp originating from Honduras, according to a separate statement by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

China and Honduras established diplomatic relations in March 2023, launched the first round of bilateral FTA negotiations in July of the same year, and signed an FTA early harvest arrangement in February 2024.

The two countries have held six rounds of FTA negotiations, the latest in July 2024, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

The two countries have conducted comprehensive and in-depth consultations on fields such as trade in goods, trade in services, investment and rules, and have made positive progress, according to the ministry.

"With different resource endowments and economic complementarity, the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries will be conducive to the economic and social development of the Central American country and benefit its people," Dong Jingsheng, deputy director of Peking University's Latin America Research Center, told the Global Times on Friday.

Dong said there is huge potential and broad development prospects for China-Honduras economic and trade cooperation. In addition to trade, bilateral investments are expected to grow rapidly once the FTA is signed and comes into effect, he said.

China and Honduras have seen rapid development of economic and trade cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic relations. According to data released by Chinse customs, the total trade volume between the two countries reached 8.06 billion ($1.14 billion) in the first seven months of 2024, an increase of 9.2 percent year-on-year. China's imports from Honduras surged by 35.3 percent year-on-year over the same period.

In July, the first batch of 36 tons of whiteleg shrimp from Honduras was exported to China, another important achievement of the pragmatic cooperation between the countries, and a vivid example of how the establishment of diplomatic ties has improved the well-being of the two peoples.

On August 23 local time, the China Honduras Enterprise Trade Matchmaking Conference and Signing Ceremony was held in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. Chinese and Honduran enterprises signed multiple trade agreements worth $18 million at the meeting, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

China is willing to work with Honduras to complete FTA negotiations as soon as possible, and China will expand high-level opening-up to provide more opportunities for Honduran products to enter the Chinese market, Xinhua quoted Chinese Ambassador to Honduras Yu Bo as saying.

"The early harvest is expected to have a demonstration effect and boost following FTA negotiations between the two countries," Jiang Shixue, a professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at Shanghai University, told the Global Times on Friday.

Jiang said an FTA will help Honduras to take advantage of the vast Chinese market, projecting that more Honduran products such as coffee, seafood and other agricultural products will be exported to China.