Hi all, I intend to import 40KG worth of dried food (fruit & vegetable powders) from the US. I'd like to seek your help in understanding the shipping cost. On other websites, it appears to be around USD10/kg. Is this a reasonable price?

For starters, who should I turn to? Established couriers like DHL/UPS or other lesser known freight forwarders?

I enquired the Customs and were told that my goods will be charged 6% GST at the point of entry. Other than that, no import tariff, that is if I classify my goods under certain HS Code. My question is... who decides which HS Code to declare?

Thanks!

This post has been edited by icycokes: Jun 10 2018, 06:28 PM

Usually, manufacturer of the product will declare the HS code.
Other than DHL and UPS, you may try FedEx and TNT Express as well.

For your reference, TNT Express rate is around RM835 for 20KG shipment, exclude import duty (if any) and GST. This is by air and delivery time is 1-3 days.

Sea freight will be much more affordable if delivery time is not a concern.
Where is your location? It will be good if you could contact the nearest freight company. Good luck.

Thanks! This is so useful. I called several freight forwarding companies, some of them were not willing to help me as they don't deal with food stuff. Only one was able to give me a rough cost and it was around USD1700 (40kg, ocean freight, arriving 1 month later).

Borderlinx quoted me USD330 for 30Kg. Although much cheaper than other freight forwarding companies. It was still too high that I expect. Now that I have your reference. I'll go hunting around for other cheaper options.

This is the quote i got from Borderlinx.



Will contact TNT and the likes. Thanks!

Let's compare what you've gathered so far.

For 31 - 50kg bracket, I'm paying RM24.40/kg excluding monthly fuel surcharge. Ship from my supplier in US to my doorstep in Malaysia. It takes 2 to 3 weeks to arrive.

This post has been edited by NightHeart: Feb 25 2017, 09:53 PM

That's very reasonable! I suppose this is done by your supplier and they probably get corporate discounts.

If it is 40kgs, don't bother with freight forwarders. In general, use 45 to 50kgs as a benchmark when deciding whether to use a courier or freight forwarder. Generally, below 50kgs courier will be cheaper. I wouldnt have a clue how much it will cost. It depends usually the location of shipper and location of consignee. Hence why freight forwarders will be more expensive for below 50kgs.

Ask your manufacturer to provide HS code and pass this to your customs broker (in this case, will be the courier company). You will be slapped with a 6% GST, but you will need their advise if you will be charged import duties.

Thanks for sharing. Very transparent pricing. But still cannot beat freight forwarders.


Thanks. You're right. I approached a few freight forwarders and some of them don't even bother to reply or follow up when I requested for a quotation. I'd like to thank a fellow forum member for taking the initiative to message me and provided a lot of insights. However, I decided not to use his service due the fact that we were located in different parts of the country.

In the end I went for a well known shipping company, simply because it's the cheapest amongst all. For the benefit of everyone here, I paid RM38 /kg, without GST. On GST part, it's exactly like what kslian mentioned.

May i know which courier u used? Would like to know more, thank you

You're importing food as well?

Viabox is cheaper. For such a package I would opt to choose Viabox. I get to pay with BitCoins and they allow me to confirm the package before shipping. They also repackaged in a smaller box to reduce shipping fees.