Cosmetics worth more than 100 million yuan ($14.4 million) and more than 3,000 tons of dairy products were imported into Shanghai on average every day, mirroring the rapid growth in imports of consumer goods into the city's customs area in 2019.

According to statistics from Shanghai customs, in the first 11 months of 2019, the value of cosmetics imports reached 36.84 billion yuan, up by 45.4 percent year-on-year and accounting for 40.4 percent of the country's total cosmetics imports in the same period.

Dairy imports reached 1.01 million tons and 21.43 billion yuan in value from January to November last year, up 15.9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 36.3 percent of the country's total imports of dairy products in the same period.

According to Wang Chengming, head of the Shanghai customs statistics and analysis department, the surge in imports of cosmetics and dairy products was a sign of rising incomes and living standards for Chinese consumers and proof of continued improvement in the business environment, customs clearance and logistics efficiency.

Taking fresh milk from New Zealand as an example, it only takes three days from local milking to being placed on China's supermarket shelves. The relevant inspection and quarantine process is completed in advance in New Zealand.

In recent years, the Chinese government has lowered import tariffs on consumer goods many times, and introduced tax and fee reduction policies such as lowering the consumption tax and value-added tax rates, effectively reducing the cost of importing consumer goods.

For instance, since 2015, tariffs directly related to cosmetics have been lowered three times. China abolished the consumption tax on ordinary cosmetics and lowered the consumption tax rate on high-end cosmetics from 30 percent to 15 percent on Oct 1, 2016.