Oghamsourcing Articles

Getting the Best Value Importing from China (Part 3)

In the third and final part of this ‘mini series’ of helpful hints, I want to talk about import duties.  I have seen a number of queries and questions on various forums (or should that be fora?) asking questions about this, so I will try to give some little clarification on this issue.  Because I am based in Ireland, I will base this post on imports to Ireland (or any other country in the EU), however I assume that other economic areas US Australia etc have similar systems.

From a European perspective, Duty rates are imposed to protect European Industry.  For all European Union (EU) imports, a harmonised tariff system is in operation which determines what import duty rates apply to which commodities, so no matter which EU country you import to, a given commodity from a given origin country will attract the same duty rate.  However a given commodity may attract different duty rates based on originating from different countries, so for instance a seft-hand widget from China might have a duty of 0% wherea the same item from Vietnam or India might have a rate of 5%.  Also, you may find variations within a commodity, for instance, wooden Furniture from China typically attracts a rate of 0% whereas furniture made from cane attracts a rate of 5.6%.  The rates are subjects to change from time to time at the behest of the EU.

Duty is calculated based the value of the goods + the cost of shipping, this is important to note particularly in light of my previous post which outlines instances where the freight cost per unit may amount to more than the purchase cost.  Import duty is charged at the point of entry, and typically your goods will not be released to you prior to payment of the duty charge.

Finally in addition to Customs duties, some commodities attract an anti-dumping duty which can by very significant indeed. For instance (applicable as per todays date 24-Aug-2009) importing bicycles from China to the EU attracts an anti-dumping rate of 48.5%, which would obviously have a significant impact on someone’s import decision.

If you are considering importing products from China to Ireland or the UK, Ogham Sourcing Ltd, an Irish company based in Cork, and with an office in Shenzhen can help you.  Our Chinese staff have experience of sourcing, quality assurance and shipping, of a wide range of commodities, and our Cork office can help co-ordinate the shipping,  customs clearance and local delivery for you.