If you have already decided to do business with China, but have no previous experience with the Asian country, you are probably asking yourself many questions. It is normal that, in any import process, making numbers is a headache: product cost, tariffs, transport and, even more, import times.
Due to the complexity that these issues may involve in a first contact with the Asian giant, our recommendation is to resort to professional services such as those offered by MingTa Group. MingTa offers you a personalized consulting service to facilitate your business relationships with Asian manufacturers and suppliers. The time factor is critical when importing from China. By working ahead of time, you will be able to react effectively to any eventuality.
Determine business viability
The first thing you must be clear about is the type of product you want to import from China, detect the opportunity and make a previous market study: to whom you are going to sell the product, at what price and what sales channels you are going to use. In addition, surely by now you already have the business model and the costs of the product you want to import (you may not have the exact values, but you certainly have reference values to decide whether or not it is convenient to bring the product you want).
Estimated time: 4 weeks.
Obtain production and freight prices
Once you are clear about the product you are going to import, it is time to start checking the prices offered by the suppliers. As we have already mentioned on other occasions, you should avoid being attracted by the low prices offered by some distributors. Take your time finding the right supplier for you. Check prices with at least 3 suppliers and, if possible, from more than one location. Many times, the price difference depends solely on the location of the Chinese company we are targeting.
Estimated time: 2 weeks.
Sample shipment
Once you have selected your potential suppliers, it is time to request a sample of the product you are going to produce. In the case that the sample was already made, you would only have to wait between 5 and 7 days to receive it, but as most probably the product you have requested is not manufactured with the required characteristics, you will have to wait between two and three weeks (not counting the shipping time).
Estimated time: 4 weeks manufacturing + 1 week air freight.
Product negotiation and manufacturing
When you check that the sample meets all the requirements, it is time to finalize details with the supplier, negotiate and make the transfer, it usually takes 3 days before it is effective.
Estimated time: 1 week to finalize + 4 weeks of manufacturing.
Inspection and shipment of products from China
When the product is manufactured, it is always more than advisable to carry out an inspection of the goods. Once it has been carried out, if no anomalies have been detected, it is shipped. The merchandise is deposited in the port free zone while waiting for the international transit operator we have contracted to confirm our “booking”.
Estimated time: 1 week.
Maritime transit
Sea transit time is variable, but never less than 25 days. It all depends on where you live, for example, a China-Chile shipment could take between 30 and 35 days and a China – Argentina, Uruguay or Brazil shipment could take around 45 days.
Estimated time: 4 to 6 weeks.
Arrival in the country of destination and storage
This part of the shipping process should not take more than 7 days. To this we will have to add the shipping from the port to your city, which would take between 1 and 3 days.
Estimated time: 1 week.
Putting yourself in the hands of companies like MingTa is a guarantee of success. This is evidenced by the recognition awarded to them at the 4th edition of the Offshore Excellence Awards, where they picked up the award for “Best Procurement Company in China 2017“. If you need to resolve any doubts before starting a purchase process in China, you can send them your questions via e-mail, info@mingtagroup.com, or through our contact form.
