BEIJING — China last year made great improvements to the efficiency of its customs clearance to facilitate foreign trade, according to the country's customs authorities.

In December 2020, it took an average of 34.91 hours for imports and 1.78 hours for exports to clear Chinese customs, respectively 1.82 hours and 0.95 hours faster than a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) shows.

Compared with 2017, the import clearance time at China's customs was slashed by 64.2 percent, while the export clearance time plunged 85.5 percent.

China has continued to streamline its customs procedures, cutting the number of certificates required for customs clearance to 41 this year from 86 in 2018, most of which can be applied for online.

China's customs last year also waived up to 15 billion yuan (about $2.32 billion) of port construction fees and 960 million yuan of port dues on cargo and security fees for port facilities, said the GAC.

To mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on foreign trade, China has rolled out a series of policies including those that streamline customs procedures and cut corporate costs. In 2020, the country's customs waived 268.77 billion yuan worth of taxes for foreign trade firms.