China: Buying

In this page: Customs Procedures | Industrial and Manufacturing Profile | Identifying a Supplier | Controlling the Quality of the Products | Organizing Goods Transport To and From China

Customs Procedures

Export Clearance

An export license is required for a foreign trade company (FTC) as soon as it wants to export goods from China. However, this may not be necessary if the goods are under incoterm FOB (free on board). An export license or permit is a document that gathers information about the exporter, the buyer, the cargo, the value and the mode of transportation and it is issued to firms by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

Necessary Declaration

In general, the supplier provides:

export licensed or permit
certificate of origin
HS Code
invoice
packing list
certificate of fumigation
Value and description of the merchandise
Composition of the merchandise
Finished/semi-finished
Name/contacts of the supplier
Destination of product
Recipient

Restrictions

The China’s Ministry of Commerce has classified goods in three categories in order to determine what type of export license is required for each goods: the permitted goods (automatically licensed), the restricted goods and the prohibited goods. The restricted goods can be exported, but either license approval or annual quotas allows their control and their regulation. The exportation of prohibited products is absolutely banned and cannot be traded.

Export Taxes

Only a few goods and semi-finished products are subject to export duties. As of January 2020, China continues to impose export tariffs or provisional export duties on 107 commodities with fixed and unchanged tax rates.

Industrial and Manufacturing Profile

Type of Production: For the resources for businesses on managing the manufacturing and the supply chain risk due to the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, please consult the report COVID-19: Managing supply chain risk and disruption (Deloitte Canada, 2020), as well as the insights on COVID-19: How to fortify your supply chain (Kearney, 2020).
The World Economic Forum's COVID Action Platform provides useful information on the latest strategic trends regarding COVID-19 implications for businesses, including manufacturing and supply systems. The report Outbreak Readiness and Business Impact (World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Harvard Global Health Institute) offers insights on handling coronavirus by businesses and strategies for effective response and resilience.
Industry (including construction) amounts to 39% of Chinese GDP, according to the World Bank. Principal industries in China are mining (world leader in reserves of tungsten , molybdenum and titanium), coal (world leader in coal production and consumption), metallurgy, petrochemicals, naval (leading shipbuilding nation), automotive (China was the leading market for motor vehicle production with about 25.7 million cars and commercial vehicles produced in 2019) and energy (second producer in electrical energy). China is also the world's biggest producer of electric household appliances products (creating one third of worldwide production), third largest producer in data-processing products (second for the PC), the largest producer of toys (70% of worldwide production), largest producer of shoes and the largest producer and exporter of textiles.

Professional Associations by Sector: 91 professional associations listed for China.

Type of Manufacturers

Original Equipment Manufacturers: Chinese OEM's are in automobile industry aeronautics industry, mobile phone industry and laptops. Many of these OEM are at the same time, ODM's.
Original Design Manufacturers: The ODM in China specializes in the manufacture of electronic products with a cost advantage. Certain ODM are well internationally established OEM. Several startups are specialized in wireless, digital products or instrumentation. Some examples are: China Electronics Corp., Panda Electronics, Shinko Electronics.
Subcontractors: China is one of the 3 great centers of international subcontracting. Subcontracting is particularly developed in China in the textile and shoe industry, in the mechanical engineering and machinery industry. China has cheap labor, university graduates speaking foreign languages and a telecommunication network and an ever expanding Internet.
Useful Resources: Chinese sourcing summit

Identifying a Supplier

Business Directories

Multi-sector Directories: All.biz - China - Directory of companies in China
Business Directory China - China business directory
China and Taiwan Products Online - Directory of manufacturers from China and Chinese Taipei.
China Business Directory - Chinainfo
China Info - Chinese business lists.
ChinaBizDir - China business directory
InfoDriveIndia - Importers and exporters directories.
Made-in-China - Directory of Chinese suppliers
Yellowpage Nepal - Nepal's business directory

To search directories by industry in China, check out our service Business Directories.

Marketplaces

Marketplaces incorporated in the country: 1688
21food
Alibaba
Aliexpress
B2B China Sources
ChemNet
China Textile Network
CHINA.CN
Chinamarket
DHgate
Marketplaces present on the continent: AsiaTradeHub
CargoSmart
EquipNet
For buyers
FreeMarketsDefence
SalvageSale
ShipServ
StoneBTB.com
SupplyOn
SurplusGLOBAL

To go further, check out our service Online Marketplaces.

Other Useful Resources

Trade Agencies and Their Representations Abroad: Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Arts and Crafts (CCCLA)
Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Minerals, Metals and Chemical Products (CCCMC)
China Chamber of Commerce on Foodstuffs and Native Produce (CFNA)
Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles (CCCT)
Chinese agencies of assistance to investment abroad
Fairs and Trade Shows: Trade fairs in China

To go further, check out our service Trade Shows.

Learn more about Service Providers in China on Globaltrade.net, the Directory for International Trade Service Providers.

Finding Assistance

Recommended Resource: NEW STEP INTERNATIONAL LIMITED - INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CONSULTING

Controlling the Quality of the Products

Quality Control Organizations: CIS China Inspection Services

Organizing Goods Transport To and From China

Main Useful Means of Transport: Ten ports in mainland China are included among the 30 top container harbors in the world. The port of Shanghai is by far the busiest in the world. The cargo turnover of Shanghai port exceeded 40 million twenty-foot equivalent shipping units (TEUs) in 2018 (latest data available). In 2018, the country shipped 249.8 million TEUs, which was a 5.3% increase on the previous year.

Road freight is the most prominent mode of cargo transportation in China. As of 2018, China had one of the largest road networks in the world. It measured around 4.8 million kilometers, second only to the United States. In 2019 there was a drop in the total volume of goods transported by road in China. Nonetheless, in 2019, cargo road freight traffic volume in China amounted to nearly six trillion ton-kilometers.  

In 2019, the cargo volume of China's air freight traffic amounted to approximately 26.32 billion ton-kilometers. China currently has 238 civil aviation airports, including the world's second busiest in Beijing.

Railroads are the principal mode of transport and the cheapest solution for long distance freight. In 2019, the volume of China's rail freight traffic had amounted to 3.02 trillion ton-kilometers. The country's state railways transported 299 million tons of freight in May 2020, an increase of 11.15 million tons compared to a year ago, according to data from China State Railway Group Co Ltd. There are currently a total of 141,400 km of railway lines in China, including 36,000 km of high-speed lines, the most important in the world, according to China State Railway Group figures. China aims to have about 200,000 kilometers of railway tracks by the end of 2035, including about 70,000 km of high-speed railway.

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Learn more about Sourcing in China on Globaltrade.net, the Directory for International Trade Service Providers.