Based in Hainan, the Ausca company is exploring the opportunities offered by a high-level openness policy.
An Ausca International Oils and Grains workshop
In 2020, with the release of the General Plan for the Construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port (PLEH), Zhang Hui, then about to retire, decided to expand his business from Guangxi to Hainan Island. This is how Ausca International Oils and Grains was established in Yangpu Economic Development Zone, Danzhou. This approach marked not only a new start in his career, but also a desire to test the policies of the PLEH.
Bold exploration
“It was the PLEH policies that first attracted me,” says Ms. Zhang. With thirty years of professional experience and a good understanding of national policies, she believes that these measures were “the most advantageous in the country”.
She only knew Yangpu through official documents. The turning point came when contacting the local investment promotion team. “Maybe it’s fate,” she smiles.
She was impressed by the team’s enthusiasm, but many uncertainties remained. At the time, details of key policies had not yet been revealed. No one knew then whether the processing of grains and oilseeds would be eligible for the customs exemption granted to products with local added value of at least 30%. Faced with this uncertainty, most of his peers preferred to wait.
But Ms. Zhang relied on necessity. She knew that Hainan, as a major aquaculture province, had significant demand for ingredients such as soybean meal, but suffered from a lack of large-scale processing factories. Between production deficit and logistical challenges, the opportunity was real. “You always need a pioneer,” she says.
Two months later, Ausca officially established itself in Yangpu. With an investment of 3.5 billion yuan, the project went from launch to production in just six and a half months, almost two years less than the industry average.
“It was not us who set this speed record, it was Yangpu who allowed us to achieve it,” underlines Ms. Zhang, praising the efficiency of Hainan’s public services.
In July 2021, the company completed its first value-added sales transaction in the domestic market. Thanks to this first-rate business environment and political dividends, it quickly took off, selling its products throughout the country. Its production value reached 7 billion yuan in 2025.
Zhang Hui, CEO of Ausca International Oils and Grains (PHOTOS: DUAN WEI)
Collaborative governance
Ausca actively participates in the implementation of PLEH policies. The exemption from customs duties, the flagship measure of the free trade port, initially posed technical challenges. “We work with bulk goods, and the initial customs system was not fully adapted, which temporarily affected our activities,” recalls the entrepreneur.
Faced with this situation, customs authorities quickly mobilized experts to resolve problems with the company and ensure continuity of production. “This policy is the result of collaboration between the company, as a practitioner, and the local authorities,” underlines Ms. Zhang. This approach also helped revise Yangpu Port’s registration policy, providing more flexibility to more businesses.
These innovative initiatives have borne fruit. The tariff exemption policy allowed Ausca to save about 300 million yuan in customs fees. As one of the first beneficiaries of the policy, the company contributed, at each stage of its exploration, to enriching the collective experience and refining the systems in place.
Expansion abroad
Whether establishing itself in Guangxi as part of the “Western Development Program”, or seizing opportunities offered by the PLEH, Ms. Zhang’s journey follows the cycles of Chinese opening-up. This strategic flair proved to be a saving grace during global trade tensions.
In 2025, changing international trade conditions have exposed a batch of imported raw materials to additional security deposit risk. For the already unprofitable grain and oilseed processing sector, this was a significant challenge. Faced with this critical situation, the city of Danzhou and the customs authorities reacted quickly. After in-depth analysis, they encouraged Ausca to adopt a model of importing raw materials and exporting finished products, allowing the company to expand into international markets.
This challenge turned into a new opportunity. In August 2025, 5,000 tonnes of Ausca soybean oil left Yangpu Port bound for India. Subsequently, its products have gradually entered the markets of more than ten countries and regions, including Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.
“We have noticed that the demand in neighboring countries is just as strong as in our domestic market,” she explains. This successful shift allowed it to better understand Hainan’s positioning. “It is a crossroads between domestic and international traffic, offering great flexibility. We can rely on the vast domestic market while opening up internationally. Businesses always find space to grow there. »
With the implementation of the special customs operation, this entrepreneur looks to the future by charting a three-step path for the internationalization of her business: currently it is about exporting products, the next step will be the export of the company itself, and the long-term goal is the export of technologies and business models. According to Ms. Zhang, PLEH offers unprecedented opportunities. “I hope to be able to devote another twenty years of effort here and witness Hainan Province becoming ever more open to the world. »
