China → Bangladesh · 2026
What the supplier quoted
One line on a proforma invoice — the only line the supplier is responsible for.
What actually leaves your account
Chattogram handles roughly 92% of Bangladesh's trade and 98% of its containerised cargo. Almost every China container you will ever buy comes through one port — so almost every cost on this page is one you will meet again on the next order.
The spine
Most import-cost articles list Bangladesh's tax rates and stop there. That is not where importers get hurt. They get hurt because each tax sits on a different base, and later taxes are charged on earlier taxes. Read the ladder from the bottom up — the badge on the right is the base that tax is charged on.
Total Tax Incidence (TTI) is the sum of steps 3–7. Two goods with the same CD rate can land 30 percentage points apart, purely because one carries SD and the other does not. This is why "what's the duty on this?" is the wrong question — the right one is "what's the TTI on this HS code, and is my HS code right?"
The single most expensive mistake. It moves CD, RD and SD at once, and customs will reclassify at the port — after your goods have arrived.
If the declared value looks low against customs' own database, they assess on their figure, not your invoice. You lose the argument standing at the port with demurrage running.
Port storage and container detention start counting on arrival, not on clearance. Paperwork delay is a cost line, not an inconvenience.
Worked through
Rates below are illustrative — your HS code decides CD, RD and SD, and we look yours up before quoting. What does not change is the order of operations and which base each tax lands on. Work your own numbers down this same column.
| Line | How it is calculated | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| FOB, ex-factory | Supplier's invoice | the number you were quoted |
| + Ocean freight, 20ft | Ningbo / Shanghai / Shekou → Chattogram | US$1,719–2,101 (July 2026 market, +9% on June) |
| + Marine insurance | on CIF value | = CIF |
| + Landing charge 1% | CIF × 1% | = Assessable Value |
| Customs Duty | AV × CD rate | AV + CD |
| Regulatory Duty | AV × RD rate | AV + CD + RD |
| Supplementary Duty | (AV + CD + RD) × SD rate | base for VAT |
| VAT | (AV + CD + RD + SD) × 15% | — |
| AIT + Advance Tax | AV × 5%, plus AT under the VAT Act | — |
| Landed cost | CIF + TTI + port & clearing | the number that should have been in your budget |
Want this run on your actual shipment? Our landed-cost calculator does the arithmetic, and the duty & VAT calculator handles the compounding. Send us the HS code and we will check the classification before you commit.
The route
Around 92% of national trade and 98% of container volume. Direct services from Ningbo, Shanghai and Shekou. Transit from Chinese base ports typically runs 15–30 days depending on service and transhipment.
Mongla takes pressure off Chattogram for some cargo and can suit buyers in the south-west. Dhaka's inland container depot matters for where your box is finally opened, not for where it lands.
Below roughly 15 cubic metres, LCL usually wins on freight but loses on handling, deconsolidation and time. Above that, a 20ft box is almost always cheaper per unit — and it is the only way to get the two things that actually protect your margin: your goods are the only goods in the container, and one bill of lading covers everything. If you are buying from four factories, consolidating into one box is the difference between one customs entry and four.
Seasonality is real. The South Asia lane firmed 9% between June and July 2026. Quote your freight close to shipment, and never let a supplier's "estimated freight" line sit unchallenged in a proforma invoice.
Before you order
Import Registration Certificate from the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports & Exports. Commercial imports do not clear without it.
The Letter of Credit Authorisation Form your bank issues. It is the instrument every later remittance is reconciled against.
Bangladesh Bank requires an IMP form, in duplicate, for every payment against imports. Your AD bank files it.
Source for the remittance forms: Bangladesh Bank, Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions, Vol-1, Ch.7 §II. Your authorised dealer bank confirms the current version — rules here are amended by circular.
By cargo type
Classification disputes and spare-parts planning dominate. Start with industrial equipment sourcing.
Price moves faster than your LC validity. See the 2026 steel price outlook.
Local mills cover nonwoven; geobags, geogrid and membrane still come in. See geobags & geomembrane.
Whatever the cargo, the two documents that decide your tax bill are written in China, not in Chattogram: the commercial invoice and the packing list. We check both against the HS classification before the container is sealed — a correction costs nothing at the factory and costs demurrage at the port. That is also why we inspect before payment rather than after arrival.
Where we fit
We are a buying office in China for orders that span more factories than you can manage from abroad. On the goods themselves we add no margin — you see and pay the factory's own invoice.
So where does our money come from? From China's export VAT rebate, 9–13% depending on the product, which the exporter of record claims after the goods leave. It is not a kickback from any factory, and it is not a cut hidden in your price — which matters to you directly: we have no reason to steer you to one supplier over another, because our income does not change with which factory you pick.
And sometimes this order does not need us. If you are placing a straight re-order of a standard item with a factory you already trust and already pay, you do not need a buying office in the middle — we will say so.
Straight answers
In July 2026 the market for a 20ft box into Chattogram ran roughly US$1,719–2,101, about 9% up on June as South Asian demand recovered. Rates move weekly, so treat any published figure as a reference point and re-quote close to shipment. Freight is also only one line of your landed cost — duty, RD, SD, VAT and AIT are usually the larger half.
Typically 15–30 days on the water from Chinese base ports to Chattogram, depending on the service and whether the box transships. Add production time before it and clearance time after it; the water is rarely the part that slips.
Because the taxes compound. SD is charged on assessable value plus CD plus RD, and 15% VAT is charged on all of that together. An item carrying supplementary duty can land tens of percentage points above an item with the same headline CD rate. The figure to ask for is Total Tax Incidence for your HS code, not the duty rate.
Under Bangladesh Bank's Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions, an advance remittance against imports normally requires the supplier to furnish a repayment guarantee from a bank abroad; the guidelines waive that only for small advances on books, journals and life-saving medicines. Where a supplier cannot provide the guarantee, the case goes to Bangladesh Bank for a decision. Relaxations are issued by circular, so confirm the current position with your AD bank — and see our page on paying Chinese suppliers from Bangladesh.
Yes. Commercial imports require an Import Registration Certificate from the CCI&E, and your bank will need it before issuing the LCAF that authorises the transaction.
Yes, and for Bangladesh it is usually the point of using us at all. Several suppliers, one container, one bill of lading, one customs entry — instead of four small shipments each carrying its own freight, clearance and paperwork.
Tell us what you're moving
Send the goods, the HS code if you have one, and the quantity. We come back with the classification checked, freight quoted both ways where an alternative exists, and the tax stack calculated — so the number in your budget is the number you actually pay.
Usually within one working day, Bangladesh time.
Please message us on WhatsApp or email info@xilinkglobaltrade.com.