Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Friday that it expects the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between Taiwan and China in mid-2010 to reap significant benefits in 2012.

The MAC, Taiwan's top China policy planner, said that as the major cross-Taiwan Strait trade pact has granted tariff-free status since the beginning of this year to more than 90 percent of 539 items Taiwan exports to the mainland, its economic benefits will become apparent in the year to come.

An early harvest list under the ECFA has from January 2011 given preferential tariff status or easier market access to 539 items of products and services from Taiwan.

Last year, only 76 items of such products enjoyed tariff-free status, according to the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT).

The government statistics show that Taiwanese exports to China in the first 11 months of 2011 totaled US$114.16 billion, up 8.66 percent from a year earlier.

The trade pact has generated tremendous business opportunities for Taiwanese exporters, the MAC said, and with local exporters more aware of the effects of the ECFA -- in particular the increase of items enjoying zero tariffs -- the economic benefits are expected to grow significantly.

The BOFT said Taiwan's exports to China under the tariff-free status accounted for only 21.11 percent of the country's total exports to the mainland last year, a percentage that is expected to increase to more than 50 percent this year.

The BOFT said the local petrochemical and machine tool sectors, in particular, are expected to gain higher economic benefits due to the broader coverage of the tariff-free status.

Meanwhile, the MAC said, the service sector has also felt the effects of the ECFA's easier market access measures.

A total of six local banks have upgraded their representative offices in China into branches. The six are Land Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Frist Commercial Bank, Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank and Cathay United Bank.

In addition, 13 local securities companies and two securities investment consulting firms have opened representative offices in China, while the financial authorities have approved four securities investment consulting companies to open joint fund management entities there.

The authorities have also given the nod to nine local insurance companies seeking to take stakes in joint ventures with Chinese partners. (By Lin Shu-yuan and Frances Huang)