The Shanghai government is implementing a variety of policies to help foreign trade firms hit by the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. One of those measures is a substantial reduction in the time needed to claim tax refunds. The city says the move puts more cash in the pockets of its 24,000 trading firms.

A-share listed manufacturer Quectel exports computer chips to more than 150 countries worldwide, primarily for use in the Internet of Things. The epidemic has delayed its production schedule, however, and so to help solve the problem, the Shanghai Tax Bureau sped up the company's export rebates -- its last refund application for 15 million yuan on taxes paid on raw materials imports took only four days to process.

"The epidemic has impacted our operations. We were planning to export orders worth 18 million U.S. dollars by the end of March, but that's been delayed. The more efficient export rebate gives us more cash in hand to purchase raw materials and pay the wages of our employees," said Zhang Lei, the board secretary at Quectel.

In the past, it would have taken more than a week to get the export rebate, but the Shanghai Tax Bureau is now able to issue its quickest rebates in only 24 hours. Almost all of Shanghai's trading firms have been able to apply for their export rebates online since February.

Trading firms are having difficulties recently, which local tax officials attributed to the high prices of raw materials and transportation. "So we set up a special team to get them their export rebates more quickly. Firms with good records get their rebates back most quickly, and others have been sped up too," said Lu Yang, the section chief of Shanghai Tax Bureau, Xuhui District.

While large firms like Quectel are relying on export rebates for cash, smaller firms are doing so as well. Customs data released at the weekend shows China's export volume in the first two months dropped by double digits year-on-year, which means the trading firms are in urgent need of help.

"Companies are still making social insurance payments for their employees, and the financial burden of that on smaller firms is quite severe. China has already implemented fiscal policies like tax cuts to support them, and the Ministry of Commerce and the central bank have also been helping out. This is very important to help SMEs handle problems brought on by the epidemic," said Jiang Dongying, the macro economy analyst at CIB Research.

The policies are playing an important part in getting trading firms back to normal operations. A customs bureau survey released over the weekend says that more than 80 percent of some 2,500 trading firms surveyed nationwide have resumed work.