HAIKOU, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Weather radar transceivers worth more than 3.8 million yuan (about 579,100 U.S. dollars) on Tuesday morning became the first batch of tariff-free raw and auxiliary materials to enter the Hainan free trade port in south China.

By arriving at the port, the transceivers for Hainan Airlines were exempt from 530,200 yuan in tariffs, authorities said.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced in November that China would waive tariffs on imported raw and auxiliary materials in the Hainan free trade port. The exemption started Tuesday, according to a circular issued by the MOF, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration.

Import tariffs, value-added tax and consumption tax are waived on raw and auxiliary materials to be processed on the island for manufacturing or services trade, industries that need raw materials from abroad and target the overseas market, the circular said.

The materials will only be processed and used by enterprises in Hainan, and they are not allowed to be sold within Hainan or moved outside the island.

The policy first covers 169 types of raw and auxiliary materials, including farm produce, energy and chemical products, and spare parts for the repairs of airplanes, other aircraft and ships, but this list will be adjusted based on the actual needs of Hainan.

Chinese authorities on June 1 released a master plan for the free trade port, aiming to build the southern island province into a globally influential high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.