The shipping cost of importing furniture from China. 

China is known as the factory of the world. Every year tens of thousands products are exported from China including furniture. So here I want to introduce the cost of importing furniture from China.

At first, there are 2 shipping ways from China to South American, North American,  Europe or other continents.

1. Airway is a very fast, it is usually for small products such as cloth, gifts, electronics since it is very expensive per kilogram. For example 1 kg from China to USA is about $10.00. The weight of a small dining table is at least 60kg, then the shipping cost will be $600.00. If you bought a large marble reception desk or bar counter, the cost maybe more than $10-20k. We can see, it has no cost performance at all.

2. By sea, it is chosen by most buyers. The shipping time from China to North American is about 18-30days to European is about 20-26days to Asian is about 5-10days.

The cost is as below:

1.Fob fees,

2.Shipping fees from China sea port to the nearest sea port according to your address

3.Destination port fees.

4.Tax

5.Local dispatch fees.

Now let’s calculate the cost of each step.

1. Fob fees:

It includes the shipping cost from China suppliers factory to sea port, custom clearance fees and seaport handle fees(SEAL,AMS,ISPS,DOC etc.) Mostly, if the supplier quoted the price with term FOB, all of these fees will be afforded by supplier. But if the trade term is EXW, it means Extra From Factory, then you will pay all of these fees.

Mostly the cost of these fees is about $200-$400.00.

2. Shipping fees from China sea port to your sea port.

The cost depends on the destination port and products volume.

Generally for 1x20’ container, from China to most ports is $500-1200.00

3. Destination port fees

All of these fees is mostly $600-$800

4. Tax

The tax depends on the kind of furniture you imported and each country has different policy. The cost is about 0-15% of amount of importing.

5. Local dispatch fees.

This cost is from the sea port to your address. The normally cost is $500-1000.00 based on the distance from the sea port to your address.

If you get the offer from your local shipping company, please note that some of the them will not help to deliver to upstairs. If you ask about that, the cost will be added.

For above, the total cost is about $1800-$3400 with the tax.

But what if our furniture volume is not much enough for a 20’ container ?

Don’t worry, all of the shipping company have the LCL service. It means the Less Container Load. You can just ship 1m³ or any volume you want.

By this way the shipping fees will be less. The 1m³ is just about 5-10USD. But the FOB fees($200-400) and destination cost($600-800) are the same. The local dispatch fees will be less also.

Finally the LCL cost will be about $1100-$1600 with tax.

For above, the LCL cost is similar to the 20ft full container. So the more furniture you bought from China, the lower shipping cost for each piece.

Hope these information will be helpful for you. If you have further questions about importing furniture from China, you can feel free to contact me.