The customs in north China's Tianjin Municipality said Friday that it has reduced and exempted tariffs totalling 2.9 billion yuan (430 million U.S. dollars) in 2018.

The customs handled 22.5 billion yuan of imported goods and deducted about 1.5 billion yuan of tax the whole year, partially lowering the prices of imported goods for domestic consumers, it said.

As for exports, the customs assisted nearly 2,200 companies in acquiring tariff concession worth about 1.4 billion yuan. Major export products included mechanical and electrical products, chemicals and steel products.