The Taiwan Commodity Market in Pingtan county has expanded its customer pool with the opening of two shuttle bus routes linking it to neighboring Fuzhou city.

A shuttle bus arrives at the Taiwan Commodity Market in Pingtan county, Fujian province, Aug 30. [Photo/pingtan.gov.cn]

Since the end of August, four shuttle buses, two on each route, have been starting from the Fuzhou North Bus Station and Fuzhou South Bus Station every morning, returning in the afternoon.

A single trip takes a little more than two hours, with the fare 52 yuan ($8.5).

“We launched the bus routes in order to increase the popularity of the Taiwan Commodity Market. If visitors show greater interest we will put on more services,” said Li Jingjian, deputy manager of the bus company in Pingtan.

He said more routes will be introduced in future, linking Pingtan with adjacent cities such as Ningde, Quanzhou and Putian.

Background:

The Taiwan Commodity Market, which opened in June 2014, is situated in Aoqian town, covering about 160,000 square meters.

It comprises 38 buildings in the Minnan folk style, divided into a duty-free zone, non-duty free zone and support functional zone.

Only one duty-free shopping mall in the No 1 Building has opened as of June 15. The rest will open in stages.

A favorable tax policy operates at the market, with tax exemptions granted by the Ministry of Finance on six categories of Taiwan goods: oil and grain products; farm products; textiles and garments; artwork; light industrial products and medicine.

The daily cap per person is 6,000 yuan ($960) and purchasing records will be tracked. If the sum exceeds the threshold both customers and merchants will be notified to pay the tax.