, May 13 -- tariff policy for African goods is helping businesses in central Hunan Province cut costs and increase imports from Africa, opening a new trade route through the inland province.

The new policy allows goods from all 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China to enter the Chinese market duty-free. China is the first major economy to offer such broad unilateral tariff-free access to all its African diplomatic partners.

One of the first companies to benefit was Hunan Express Wisdom Information Technology Co., Ltd., which imported more than 6,000 bottles of South African wine through Changsha Huanghua International Airport on May 1.

The shipment saved the company 21,000 yuan (about $3,000) in import duties....