Necessary documents and requirements to export to China

While it’s true that there are many criteria that employers consider when choosing where they want to export their products, the size and benefits of the market ends up being one of the central factors in making that decision. Among these, China always stands out. Transaction that is – at the same time – attractive and frightening for SMEs, who should not miss the opportunity to sell their merchandise in a market that has more than 1,350 million people. Exporting to China will always be a good idea if you want to grow your business.

In such a globalized world, which also has a lot of competition within national markets, one of the best opportunities will always be to expand your marketing frontiers to other countries: but doesn’t this mean competing globally? Yes, of course, but that is not a limitation. In fact, a product from your country can be highly valued and, therefore, demanded in other latitudes of the globe, offering you the potential to capitalize your efforts and generating a higher rate of growth as a company.

The advantages of exporting to China are innumerable, but we can not allow ourselves to dazzle ourselves with the possible success that we will obtain, on the contrary, we must first know the wide panorama of situations that can arise to know how to face the processes and obstacles of the more efficient way. Next, we will give you a series of recommendations so that you can export your products to Chinese soil without any problem.

Required documents for the Export

Anyone interested in exporting from China – agent, distributor, operations partner, etc. – has the obligation to provide customs agents with a series of essential documents to sell any type of goods or merchandise in the Asian nation. And although the required papers vary according to the product, there are always a few necessary for every occasion. They stand out among them:

For the dispatch of the goods the supplier must provide: invoices, certificate of origin, bill of lading, shipping list, customs declaration, the insurance policy of the cargo, the contract of sale and the proof of fumigation.

The necessary declarations that the supplier must provide: name and data of the supplier, proof of the country of origin of the products, value and description of the merchandise, composition of the merchandise, destination of the product, recipient and HS code.

It’s also worth noting that in some cases an inspection certificate issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ) is requested, as well as other safety and quality licenses. It should also be noted that there is no export tax, but VAT (17%) non-refundable in case of export could be considered as such.

Requirements to export to China

If after reading the above your interest is full, we recommend you to follow or consider these 5 requirements for export to China before risking and expanding without having a clear idea of the market you are going to face.

1) Product: before embarking on the adventure, you should consider if you have a product that has a competitive advantage with respect to the merchandise that is already in China. These advantages can be: the prices-cheaper than the competition-; differentiation – different perception of the product thanks to communication tools -; innovation – unique characteristics that its competitors do not have.

The product must also have an attractive brand, which allows it to position itself in the niche of the market to which it points. For this particular aspect, it is suggested to have a web page available in the languages of the two countries that are doing business, which is visually appealing and intuitive for navigation.

2) Motivation: you must have the necessary stimuli to begin the great process of internalization. In principle, your route plan must be well defined, with achievable goals and times. In addition, other aspects that can play for your motivation are:

• Want to grow beyond the domestic market.
• Have the ability to scale economies with greater competition.
• Gain greater prestige within the domestic market.
• Receive greater profitability from the international market.

Once this is considered, the next step refers to your organization or company, which must also possess a motivation that aligns with your personal expansion desires.

3) Human Resources: anyone who wants to export their products to China, must have a series of skills to lead within their possibilities the management of internalization. For this, it is essential to have a comprehensive team that has the following skills:

• Knowledge of the internal market and the market in which they will enter.
• Knowledge of the language in which it will be negotiated -at least English proficiency-, to facilitate communication and mutual understanding.
• Provision to travel in case it is necessary to visit the buyers.
• Have several trusted partners, so as not to overload only one person on the team.

4) Financial Capacity: if you consider export as a possibility, you must ensure that you have some economic slack to assume costs that you did not previously contemplate, such as: buying information from your niche in the Chinese market; travel expenses for negotiations, congresses or fairs; advertising or promotional material, among others.

5) Productive Capacity: you must evaluate if you can expand the productive capacity of your company to meet the potential demand that you may have in China. Ideally, with such expansion of demand, your company can reach an optimal level of production so that unit costs per product decrease and allow you to have competitive prices.

After checking that you meet or can meet at least these 5 essential requirements for internalization, you will be closer to venturing into a foreign market as prosperous and dynamic as China.