On September 18, 10 tons of gold bars from Chengdu, Sichuan Province were declared to Shanghai Northwest Bonded Logistics Center and placed into Shanghai Gold Exchange’s bonded warehouse there. Those gold bars were the first batch of finished gold that was directly put to Shanghai Gold Exchange, without transit via Hong Kong, after their processing in the Chinese mainland. That was another effort by Shanghai Customs District to get Shanghai Gold International Board more competitive by means of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) radiation effect.

Reportedly, real gold bars transacted on Shanghai Gold International Board are all 1kgstandard ones, while directly imported gold bars are12.5kgstandard ones. So the bigger imported gold bars need to be processed into smaller standard ones in the mainland before their transaction at Shanghai Gold Exchange.

According to original control model, domestically-processed gold had to be transited via Hong Kong. Now, based on the FTZ function, the firms can apply to Shanghai Railway Station Customs House for direct clearance at Shanghai Northwest Bonded Logistics Center, so as to significantly reduce their logistic time and clearance cost.

Due to the particularity of gold transport, the Customs guided the firms to the "self-transport" model provided by the FTZ to ensure security and efficiency, in addition to special service window, clearance reservation, and other measures for better control and service.

Currently, Shanghai Gold Exchange has contracted with more than 40 domestic and foreign banks to jointly build a global gold transaction platform. The "gold through train" rolled out by the Customs can bring faster transit with lower cost to enhance the international competitiveness of Shanghai Gold Exchange.