Here at TSL Australia we have one mission: to get your consignment from Australia to China (or anywhere else you need it to be) as quickly as possible. We offer a fully comprehensive freight forwarding service that covers customs clearance, inland travel, packing, distribution and warehousing. We can therefore organise great-value shipping to China with sea freight or air freight. We look forward to working with you and your company.

Why Export To China?

If you’re an Australian business on the lookout for new markets for goods exports, why not consider China? China is Australia’s number one export country, with Australian produce worth a huge AU$118 billion exported there in 2018. This country has seen rapid economic growth in recent years, with millions being lifted out of poverty. It has an enormous population of around 1.4 billion and a growing middle class. This progress has led to an increased demand for imported products, creating new opportunities for Australian businesses to sell to high-earning consumers with generous disposable incomes who are hungry for foreign goods.

What Can I Export?

The largest exports from Australia to China are iron ores, coal and natural gas. China also imports precious stones, wool, livestock, cereals and wood in large quantities from Australia. There’s also huge potential for exporting products from other industries. These include: food, alcoholic beverages including 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 the Chinese consumer’s access to Australian goods.
You can find out more about trading with China 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 has two separate acronyms: 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 reliable e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and eBay.

Less Export Tariff: Australia To China

Exporting to China has been made a lot easier in recent years thanks to the ChAFTA (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement) which came into force in 2015. This agreement delivers extensive tariff reduction and greater certainty for suppliers of services and investors. It’s opened up a dynamic Asian market to Australian businesses, because it means there are less export tariffs from Australia to China when exporting goods there.

Shipping To China: Sea Freight

Transporting goods via the ocean is ideal if your cargo is heavy or bulky. Ocean freight is the cheapest way of carrying out goods exports from Australia to China and takes around 18 and 35 days, depending on which part of the country you are transporting them to.
North China: 20-35 days
South China: 20-30 days
East China: 18-25 days

Shipping To China: Air Freight

A faster alternative to shipping to China with sea freight is sending your goods in a plane. Air freight is ideal if your cargo is not too heavy or large. To import by air from Australia to China usually takes between 1 and 5 days.China fact file
Capital: Beijing
Population: 1.4 billion
Major ports: Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou
Top 3 source countries for imports: Republic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan (Australia 6th)
Key goods imports from Australia: Iron ores & concentrates, coal and natural gas
Yearly goods trade with Australia: $193 billion
Free Trade Agreement with Australia?: Yes, the ChAFTA.