What importing from China really costs: the full landed-cost breakdown

This guide is for companies buying at container scale (distributors, contractors, brands) who need to compare supplier quotes on what goods cost in their own warehouse. It walks through every cost layer in the order money leaves your account, with public benchmarks where they exist (freight indices, published inspection rates, customs law), a hypothetical worked example, and a table showing which lines each Incoterm moves onto you. If you only need the formula, our landed cost calculation for China imports goes through it line by line; this page maps what sits behind each line.

Landed cost has sixteen lines, and the factory price is only the first

Over 3,500+ deliveries since 2019 we have learned to build the cost model before the deposit, not after the goods land. The lines below appear on almost every commercial shipment. Some are zero under a given Incoterm because the seller has priced them in, not because they disappear.

The ex-works price moves with MOQ, specification and raw-material indices

The unit price on a quotation is itself a stack: raw material, processing, labour, overhead, packaging and the factory's margin. Three things move it most. Order quantity spreads setup time and material minimums; below the factory's MOQ you pay a premium or end up with a trader's price. Specification decides material grade, tolerances and finish, and two quotes for 'the same' product are rarely for the same spec. Raw-material prices (steel, aluminium, copper, polysilicon, resin) pass through quickly, which is why metal and PV quotes often carry a validity of days rather than weeks.

One caveat trips up buyers who compare 1688 listings with export quotes: China's standard VAT rate is 13%, domestic RMB prices usually include it, and an export quote in USD usually does not. Check which basis you are looking at before you decide one supplier is cheaper.

Tooling and moulds are paid once, but not cheaply

Injection moulds, stamping dies, extrusion dies and printing plates are charged before production, usually on a separate invoice. Get three answers in writing: who owns the tool, how many shots or cycles it is guaranteed for, and whether the cost is refunded or credited after an agreed volume. For costing, spread tooling over the volume you realistically expect to buy, not over the first order. Tooling paid to the seller is generally part of the price for customs valuation, so keep it on the invoice trail rather than paying it off the books.

Samples cost more to courier than to make

For most products the sample itself is cheap; the express courier from China and the rounds of revisions are what cost money. Budget for at least two rounds (a first sample, then a pre-production sample that becomes the approved reference) and for the time each round adds. This line largely does not apply to commodity steel, which you buy to a standard and a mill test certificate rather than to a sample.

Sourcing and inspection fees are separate lines, not part of the unit price

Sourcing agents charge in one of three ways

• Percentage of order value. You see the factory invoice and the fee as two lines. Transparent, but the fee grows with the price, so ask how the agent is kept motivated to push it down.
• Fixed project fee. A set amount for search, verification and negotiation, regardless of order value. Clean incentives; on a single small order it can cost more than a percentage would.
• Retainer or hourly rate. A monthly fee for running procurement continuously, suited to steady volumes across many SKUs.

A fourth model hides the fee in the unit price: the intermediary buys in its own name and resells to you. That is legitimate for a trading company, but you cannot see the margin or hold a contract with the factory. We don't publish a price list here because scope varies too much by product; the trade-offs between models, and what each fee should cover, are in our guide to sourcing agent fee models. Our supplier search service quotes the factory price and the service fee as separate lines.

Inspection is priced per man-day: roughly $270–$350 in China

Third-party inspection firms publish all-inclusive man-day rates for mainland China. In September 2026 the list prices of large independent inspection companies sat roughly between $270 and $350 per man-day, with surcharges for remote locations and higher rates for industrial equipment. A pre-shipment inspection of one product usually takes one or two man-days, and so does a factory audit before the deposit. Sample sizes follow the ISO 2859-1 (AQL) tables, so a bigger batch means more units opened, not a proportionally longer visit.

Two checks sit at fixed points in the payment schedule: supplier verification before the deposit, and pre-shipment quality inspection at 80–100% production, before the balance. The second matters because the balance is your last lever. On a solar-panel order for Poland, the supposed factory turned out to be a trading company, and the real manufacturer was found before any money moved. Set a man-day or two of verification against a deposit that is commonly 30% of the order, and the arithmetic is simple.

Freight cost $3,626 per 40ft from Shanghai to Rotterdam on 17 September 2026

Before the ship: packaging, trucking and export clearance

Export packaging (cartons rated for stacking, ISPM-15 pallets, desiccant, strapping for coils) is either inside the unit price or quoted as an extra, so spell it out in the RFQ. The goods then travel from the factory to the port or rail terminal and clear Chinese export customs. Under FOB the seller pays for both; under EXW they are yours, and you need a forwarder who can arrange them. For heavy cargo, inland distance matters: a mill hundreds of kilometres from the coast adds a trucking line that a factory next to the port does not.

Sea freight: FCL and LCL

Drewry's World Container Index put a 40ft container from Shanghai to Rotterdam at $3,626 on 17 September 2026, down 9% in a week; Shanghai to Genoa was $4,016 and the composite index $4,500. These are spot rates that move weekly, so treat them as indicative, check the index again in the week you book, and use the Freightos FBX as a second view. A freight quote also carries surcharges (BAF, peak season, terminal handling) that differ between forwarders; our breakdown of container shipping costs from China explains each one.

LCL (less than container load) is priced per freight tonne, meaning per cubic metre or per tonne, whichever is greater, plus consolidation and deconsolidation fees at both ends. As a rough rule, LCL wins on small volumes; somewhere around 13–15 cubic metres, compare it with a full 20ft, which often costs little more and removes the handling risk of a shared box.

Rail to Europe and Central Asia

Rail sits between sea and air on both price and transit time, and for landlocked Kazakhstan it is often the default. Our wire rod shipment to Kazakhstan, 1,000 tonnes mill-direct, moved by rail on DAP terms, which kept freight on the seller's side of the ledger up to the named place. There is no public weekly rail index comparable to the WCI, so rail is quoted per container or wagon by the operator. Get two quotes and check whether the transhipment at the gauge change on the border is included.

Air freight

Air is priced per chargeable kilogram: the greater of actual weight and volumetric weight, conventionally the volume in cubic centimetres divided by 6,000. Rates are tracked weekly by the TAC Index, whose global Baltic Air Freight Index stood about 20% above its year-earlier level in mid-September 2026. Air makes sense for samples, urgent spare parts and goods with a high value per kilo; for steel or panels it almost never does.

Insurance is priced on CIF plus 10%

Under Incoterms 2020 a CIF seller must insure at least 110% of the contract price under Institute Cargo Clauses (C), the most limited cover, while CIP requires the broad clauses (A). Premiums are usually a fraction of a percent of the insured value, so the line is small. But minimum cover under CIF excludes a lot, and you will be claiming on a policy the seller chose. If the cargo matters, buy all-risks cover yourself.

Duty is charged on customs value; import VAT on value plus duty

The general formula is the same in every market covered here: duty = customs value × duty rate, then import VAT = (customs value + duty + any excise) × VAT rate. What changes is how the customs value is built, what else enters the VAT base, and the rates. The duty rate follows the HS code, which is why classification is the most expensive thing to get wrong; the clearance process step by step is in our guide to customs clearance for commercial cargo from China.

EU (Poland and other member states)

The EU adds to the transaction value the transport, insurance, loading and handling costs up to the point where goods enter the Union, which in practice is a CIF value at the EU border (European Commission guidance on customs valuation). Buying commissions paid to your own agent are excluded; selling commissions are included. Import VAT is then charged on customs value plus duty plus incidental costs such as transport to the first destination in the member state. In Poland the standard rate is 23%. Duty rates come from the TARIC database per HS code.

Ukraine

Article 58 of Ukraine's Customs Code likewise adds transport costs up to the airport, port or other place of entry into Ukraine's customs territory; transport after entry stays out if it is invoiced separately and documented. Import VAT is 20% on customs value plus duty and excise. A VAT-registered importer recovers it as input VAT, but pays it in cash at the border first.

Kazakhstan and the EAEU

Article 40 of the EAEU Customs Code works the same way: freight, loading and insurance up to the place of arrival into the Union's customs territory are added to the price. The practical difference for China cargo is where that place is. Rail freight to Kazakhstan enters at the land border crossing, so the leg across Kazakhstan to Almaty or Astana stays out of the base if it is invoiced separately, and duty comes from the EAEU common customs tariff rather than a national one. Kazakhstan's standard VAT rate rose from 12% to 16% on 1 January 2026.

After clearance: port charges, broker and last mile

Destination terminal handling, documentation and storage fees are billed by the port, the terminal and the carrier's agent, and they are often missing from a port-to-port freight quote. A customs broker usually charges per declaration, more for many HS lines or permits; appoint one before the ship sails, not when it arrives. Then comes the local truck or rail to your warehouse. Our logistics coordination service quotes these lines together so the gaps show up before booking.

Worked example: a hypothetical 40ft shipment into the EU

The table below is a hypothetical illustration, not client data and not a quote. Assumptions: 4,000 units of a boxed product at $15 EXW from a factory near Shanghai; one 40ft container to Rotterdam, cleared for an importer in Poland; an illustrative 4% duty rate (check TARIC for your code); the Drewry WCI rate of 17 September 2026. The sourcing fee is an arbitrary placeholder, not a market benchmark and not our price.

Three things stand out. The goods are about 80% of landed cost; the other 20% is spread across a dozen lines, none of which looks large alone. The per-unit figure is $18.65, about 24% above the EXW price, and that is the number to set your selling price against. And import VAT needs almost $16,000 of cash at the border even though a registered importer recovers it later. Swap in a high-duty HS code, a heavy low-value product or a peak-season freight rate and the gap widens quickly.

Incoterms change who pays each line, not the total

An Incoterm decides which costs sit inside the supplier's price, which you pay separately, and where risk passes. It does not remove any line. A DDP price looks complete, but it contains the seller's estimate of your duty and VAT plus a margin for their risk, and you lose sight of the customs value declared for your goods. Each rule is explained in our Incoterms 2020 guide for China imports.

Hidden costs: defects, delays, demurrage and bank fees

• Defects found after arrival. Rework, sorting, returns and discounts to your own customers. Once the balance is paid, your only leverage is the next order.
• Production delays. Chinese New Year and Golden Week shut factories and back up ports; a missed vessel can mean paying a peak-season rate on the next one.
• Demurrage and detention. Terminals and carriers give a set number of free days, then charge per container per day. Late documents or a customs query are the usual cause.
• Documentation errors. A packing list that does not match the invoice, or a wrong HS code, means inspections, corrections and storage fees while the cargo waits.
• Bank and FX costs. Each international transfer carries fees on both sides and an exchange spread; a deposit-and-balance schedule means at least two transfers per order, more if intermediary banks take a cut.
• Price drift. Metal and PV quotes with short validity can be re-quoted if the deposit arrives late.

The cheapest quote on paper is often just the one with the fewest lines filled in.

Common mistakes we see

• Comparing suppliers on unit price when one quote is EXW and the other FOB.
• Treating a forwarder's port-to-port rate as the whole freight cost and meeting destination charges on arrival.
• Calculating margin without funding import VAT; the goods are released only once it is paid.
• Spreading tooling over one order, or forgetting it entirely on the second supplier's quote.
• Leaving packaging unspecified, then paying for re-packing or absorbing transit damage.
• Skipping pre-shipment inspection to save one or two man-days on an order worth tens of thousands.
• Letting the supplier under-declare the invoice to 'save duty'. The customs risk and the penalties sit with the importer, not the factory.

What this breakdown does not cover

The model above fits commercial B2B shipments cleared by a registered importer. It does not apply as written when:

• you import parcels by express courier under a low-value or simplified regime, where duty and VAT rules differ;
• your goods carry excise, anti-dumping or safeguard duties; some Chinese steel products face anti-dumping duties in the EU and the EAEU, and these can exceed the base duty;
• you ship dangerous goods such as lithium batteries, which add DG packaging, declarations and carrier surcharges;
• you need certification before sale (CE, EAC, Ukrainian technical regulations), which is a separate testing and paperwork budget;
• you want the financing cost of paying a deposit months before you can sell; it is real, but it depends on your own balance sheet.

FAQ

How much does it cost to import from China?

There is no single figure. The factory price is usually the largest line, and freight, duty, VAT and services go on top. In the hypothetical container above the non-product lines added about 24% before VAT; heavy low-value goods, high duty rates or peak-season freight push that share up.

Is import duty calculated on the FOB or the CIF value?

In the EU, Ukraine and the EAEU, duty is calculated on a customs value that includes freight and insurance up to the point of entry into the customs territory, in effect a CIF value even if you bought FOB. Transport after entry is excluded if it is invoiced separately.

How much does a sourcing agent charge?

It depends on the model (percentage of order value, fixed project fee or retainer) and on the scope. Compare offers on total landed cost rather than on the fee alone, and ask in writing whether the agent receives anything from the factory.

How much does a pre-shipment inspection cost in China?

Published all-inclusive rates from major third-party firms were roughly $270–$350 per man-day in September 2026. One product usually takes one or two man-days; remote factories and industrial equipment cost more.

Is import VAT a cost?

For a VAT-registered importer it is normally recoverable as input tax, so it is a cash-flow item rather than a final cost. It still has to be paid at clearance before the goods are released.

Should I buy DDP to avoid surprises?

DDP moves duty, VAT and customs clearance to the seller, which is convenient for small shipments. You pay for it through the price, you give up control over the declared value, and you generally cannot recover import VAT that the seller paid as importer of record.

Checklist before you compare two quotes

1. 1Put both quotes on the same Incoterm and the same packaging specification.
2. 2Separate tooling, samples and service fees from the unit price.
3. 3Add supplier verification before the deposit and inspection before the balance.
4. 4Price freight from a current index and a forwarder quote, including destination charges.
5. 5Confirm the HS code, the duty rate and any anti-dumping duty for your market.
6. 6Build the customs value the way your customs authority does, then duty, then VAT.
7. 7Fund import VAT in the cash plan, even if you will recover it.
8. 8Add a buffer for defects, delays and demurrage.
9. 9Divide by units and compare landed cost per unit, not unit price.

If you want this model built for a specific product before you pay a deposit, send the specification through our supplier search and ask for the freight and clearance lines to be priced by our logistics team alongside it.

Written by

Dmitry Markov

Head of Operations & CTO

How we write and check our guides