Are you hoping to organise low-cost sea freight to China? Need a freight forwarder to take charge of all the important parts for you? TSL Australia is here to help. We provide highly efficient and great-value freight forwarding services for businesses carrying out goods imports from Australia to China. Our comprehensive range of activities covers all aspects of the job, from packing to distribution and from customs clearance to warehousing.

Goods Imports: Australia To China

If you’re an Australian business on the lookout for new markets for goods exports, have you considered China? There are a number of reasons why you may want to export goods to this huge East Asian country, whose population is a massive 1.4 billion. This country has seen rapid economic growth in recent years, with millions being lifted out of poverty. It has a growing middle class made up of consumers who have high salaries and hefty disposable incomes to spend on foreign goods. This has created new opportunities for Australian businesses.

Selling To China

China is Australia’s number one export country, with goods worth an enormous AU$118 billion shipped to China from Australia in 2018. The largest exports are in iron ores, coal and natural gas. China also imports significant amounts of precious stones, wool, livestock, cereals and wood. There’s also huge potential for exporting products from other industries. These include: food, alcoholic beverages such as wine and craft beer, and complementary medicines including supplements – this has been contributed to further due to China’s ageing population. Factors such as growing urban density, e-commerce platforms, and low-price local delivery services have further increased access to Australian goods in China.
Discover more about China’s potential for trade with Australia from the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade).

TSL’s Quick Tips For Doing Business In China

• Digital communication is very important for carrying out business in China. WeChat is the main platform, with over 1 billion users.
• The Chinese Yuan is expressed in two ways: CNH and CNY. CNH refers to trade on the offshore market, so outside of mainland China.
• Chinese names are expressed with the family name first.
• It takes a while to build up business relationship with the Chinese. To get started, using a neutral intermediary is a good idea.
• China has a huge e-commerce market, so in order to market your produce there you may want to consider using well-known e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay.

Free Trade Agreements

Exporting to China has been made a lot easier in recent years thanks to the ChAFTA (the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement) which came into force in 2015. This pact has led to increasingly preferential rates for Australian companies wanting to import goods into China.
If you’d like to know more about what sort of tariff you’ll pay when exporting a certain product to China from Australia, you can use the Australian Government’s Free Trade Agreement Portal. This handy, easy-to-use search tools covers just about every product you may want to export.

Ocean Freight Services To China

Shipping via the ocean is a fantastic option for businesses who have plenty of time to export their goods. TSL can provide great-value, reliable ocean freight services to China. We can organise packing, inland travel, customs clearance, warehousing/storage and distribution in both Australia and China. To find out more about low-cost sea freight to China with TSL, please get in touch on our website, or via phone or email.

How Long Does It Take?

With TSL, you can expect goods imports from Australia to China to take between 18 and 35 days when shipping by sea. The transit time for low-cost sea freight to China will generally depend on the following factors:

• Departure/arrival: China and Australia are both huge countries, so shipping times between them will naturally vary. Shipping from Sydney or another southern Australian port will take longer than sending your consignment from the north, simply because there is more water to cover. These are the estimated times for sea freight services to China with TSL:
  Australia to northern China: 20-35 days
  Australia to southern China: 20-30 days
  Australia to eastern China: 18-25 days
• Container type: Hiring private, full container loads (FCLs) means your cargo will be subject to fewer delays than if it shares less than container loads (LCLs) with other businesses or individuals.
• Cargo type: Certain items will be subject to stricter and lengthier customs checks when they arrive into China.
• Weather conditions: The ocean can be unpredictable. Storms and strong winds may affect the boat’s departure from Australia, its progression when out at sea and its arrival into the Chinese destination port.