Hainan Investment Guide

Hainan Province was established in April 1988. The jurisdiction covers Hainan Island, Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Islands and Spratly Islands as well as their surrounding water areas. It covers a land area of 35.4 thousand square kilometers and a water surface of about 2 million square kilometers. It is the smallest province in terms of its land area, yet the largest province in terms of its water territories.

Investment Climate in Hainan
Situated at the southernmost tip of China, Hainan overlooks Guangdong across the Qiongzhou Strait to the north, Vietnam across the Beibu Bay to the west and Taiwan across the South China Sea to the east. Its neighbors in the South China Sea include the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia.

Hainan's economy is predominantly agricultural, and more than a half of the island's exports are agricultural products. Hainan's elevation to province-level status (1988), however, was accompanied by its designation as China's largest "special economic zone", the intent being to hasten the development of the island's plentiful resources.

Prior to this, the province had a reputation for being a "Wild West" area, largely untouched by industrialization; even today there are relatively few factories in the province. Tourism plays an important part of Hainan's economy, thanks largely to its tropical beaches and lush forests.

As China's only tropical island, Hainan has jurisdiction over 2 million square kilometers of sea area and enjoys abundant land and marine resources. Among over 4600 kinds of plants, 800-odd plant species have high economic value and 600 plant species are indigenous to Hainan. There are 37 kinds of exploitable mineral resources, including iron, glass, quartz sand, titanium and natural gas.

Moreover, Hainan boasts of nearly 30 million square kilometers of high-yield fisheries. Along its 1,530-kilometer coastline, there are 25.7 thousand hectares of coastal tidal flats for aquaculture. Among its aquatic products, redfish, crabs, shrimps, blood clams and pearls are well-known.

Preferential Policies for Foreign Investment
1. Foreign-invested enterprises engaged in production and operation in Hainan Special Economic Zone shall pay the enterprise income tax at the rate of 15%.

2. Foreign-invested enterprises engaged in production and operation in Hainan Special Economic Zone shall be exempted from local income tax.

3. Foreign investors without an office in China shall be exempted from withholding tax for their income from dividends, interest, rents, royalties and other sources in Hainan Special Economic Zone.

4. For export-oriented or technologically advanced foreign-invested enterprises, the internationally accepted accelerated depreciation method shall be adopted to facilitate equipment upgrading and technological progress upon the approval of competent authorities in charge of finance and taxation in Hainan.

5. After the verification and approval by the local tax authority, forty percent of enterprise income tax already paid on the reinvested portion shall be refunded to foreign investors, who reinvest the profits from Hainan Special Economic Zone in China for a period of no less than five years.

6. Products from foreign-invested enterprises sold in Hainan Special Economic Zone shall be exempted from product tax or value-added tax, except for tobacco, alcohol, mineral oil and a few other products that are subject to halved product tax or value-added tax in accordance with regulations of Hainan Provincial People's Government.

7. Products from foreign-invested enterprises sold to places other than Hainan in China shall be levied with product tax or value-added tax, in addition to getting approval from competent authorities for products restricted for import into China.

8. Foreign-invested enterprises that need loans in the production and distribution processes shall enjoy priority in getting loans from the depositary bank or other financial institutions in accordance with the Regulations of the Bank of China on Loans to Foreign-Invested Enterprises.

9. Foreign-invested enterprises may apply for replacing imports with local production if their products are sold in China and comply with relevant state regulations.

10. Foreign investors shall be encouraged by preferential policies to establish export-oriented or technologically advanced enterprises.

Contact Us
If you have further inquires, please do not hesitate to contact Tannet at anytime, anywhere by simply visiting Tannet’s website english.tannet-group.com, or calling our hotline at 86-755-82143181, 86-755-82143422, or emailing to tannet-solution@hotmail.com. Our experienced consultants will be glad to assist and advice on how to approach your particular challenge.