China
Canada trade laneFoshan is the centre of China's furniture trade: Shunde district, home to the Lecong furniture market and thousands of factories around it, makes the sofas, recliners, dining sets, bedroom furniture and office seating that Canadian retailers, hotel groups and contractors buy. The freight is straightforward volume cargo. The Canadian rules are not. Anti-dumping and countervailing duties apply to upholstered domestic seating and mattresses from China, and provisionally to Chinese decorative plywood panels since August 2026; composite-wood panels inside furniture need formaldehyde certification and bilingual labels; and every commercial importer now needs its own CARM account with the Canada Border Services Agency.
Our own office in Foshan sits inside that cluster. Our team visits factories, checks goods against your specification and the Canadian labels and certificates you will need, consolidates several suppliers into one container and supervises loading with photographs. In Canada we work through a WCA partner agent — AGF has no office there — and clearance is filed by a licensed Canadian customs broker under your company's own business number and CARM account, so duty, any anti-dumping duty or surtax, and GST are assessed on true values in your name.
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Shipping Furniture from China to Canada
Furniture is volume cargo, so the 40ft High Cube is the standard box: as a planning guide it holds roughly 250–300 stacking chairs, and far fewer pieces of assembled upholstered furniture. Knock-down and flat-pack designs multiply what fits, so settle the packing with the factory before production. Consolidating several Foshan suppliers into one container is usually cheaper than separate LCL shipments, each with its own handling charges at both ends.
Most furniture for Canada lands on the West Coast. From South China, direct services typically reach Vancouver in about 14–20 days port to port, and Prince Rupert is shorter still from Shanghai and North China. Containers for Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies usually continue by CN or CPKC rail, roughly 4.5–6 days from the West Coast to Toronto, or to Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. All-water services to Halifax or Montreal take considerably longer, so for eastern deliveries we compare them with West Coast discharge plus rail. Every transit is a typical range, confirmed per booking.
- 40ft High Cube for full loads; consolidation across Foshan suppliers
- Knock-down and flat-pack designs to raise the number of pieces per container
- Vancouver or Prince Rupert, then rail to Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg; all-water to Halifax or Montreal where it suits
- Wooden pallets and crates debarked, heat-treated or fumigated and ISPM 15-marked, as the CFIA requires
- Loading supervised and photographed by our Foshan team
What Drives the Cost
- Cubic volume, and how well the designs nest or knock down
- Whether the goods fall under Canada's anti-dumping and countervailing measures — leather or motion seating, mattresses, plywood panels shipped loose — and whether your supplier has normal values set by the CBSA
- Customs duty on the tariff item — Canada's tariff splits many furniture lines into goods for domestic purposes and others, with different duty treatment
- The steel derivative surtax on metal-framed seats, metal office furniture and certain furniture parts
- Rail from the West Coast to inland Canada, and delivery to warehouses, stores or project sites
- GST at 5% at the border, which a GST/HST-registered importer can usually recover as an input tax credit
HS Codes and Duty Notes
Classification guidance only — duty rates change and depend on your exact product. Codes are confirmed with the licensed customs representative at destination before you ship.
| HS Code | Products | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9401 | Seats — sofas, sectionals, recliners, sofa beds, armchairs, dining and office chairs | Leather-covered and motion seating for domestic use from China is under Canadian anti-dumping and countervailing duty; stationary fabric seating, dining chairs and outdoor seating are not. Metal-framed seats are also on the steel derivative surtax schedule. Duty depends on the full tariff item; confirmed at quoting. |
| 9403.30 – 9403.60 | Wooden furniture — office, kitchen, bedroom, dining and living room | No anti-dumping measure on finished wooden furniture. MDF, particleboard and hardwood plywood inside must meet Canada's formaldehyde regulations, and the finished piece carries a bilingual compliance label. |
| 9403.10 / 9403.20 / 9403.99 | Metal furniture and furniture parts | Metal office furniture (9403.10) and other furniture parts (9403.99) are on the steel derivative surtax schedule; a remission order relieves some specifically described products, so the broker checks the exact item before you order. |
| 9404.21 / 9404.29 | Mattresses and mattress toppers | Mattresses and toppers from China are under Canadian anti-dumping and countervailing duty, with narrow exclusions such as camping mattresses, airbeds and thin toppers. Every mattress must also pass the cigarette test of Canada's Mattresses Regulations. |
| 4412 | Plywood panels — not finished furniture | Decorative and other non-structural plywood from China has carried provisional anti-dumping and countervailing duty since 24 August 2026, with the Tribunal's finding due by late December 2026. It applies to flat panels shipped loose, not to finished furniture. |
Regulations and Compliance
Anti-dumping and countervailing duty (SIMA)
Upholstered domestic seating from China — sofas, chairs, recliners, sofa beds, futons, ottomans and home-theatre seating — has been under a Canadian International Trade Tribunal finding since 2 September 2021. It covers motion seating whatever the cover, and stationary seating with leather in the cover; stationary seating covered only in fabric (including vinyl or PU leather substitutes), dining chairs, outdoor, folding and stackable seating and bar-height stools are excluded. The finding is under expiry review, with the CBSA's determination due by 28 January 2027, and remains in force while the review runs. Mattresses and toppers have been under a finding since 4 November 2022, and decorative plywood panels have carried provisional duty since 24 August 2026. Duty depends on the exporter and the model: goods sold at or above a normal value the CBSA has set for that exporter attract little or none, while exporters without normal values face a very high uplift. These goods are heavily tariffed, not banned, and we check the product definition and your supplier's status before you order.
Steel and aluminium surtaxes
Canada's surtax on Chinese steel and aluminium covers the metal itself — steel products, tubes and pipes, aluminium profiles, plate and foil — not finished furniture, though aluminium profiles shipped loose for assembly are caught. The separate steel derivative goods surtax, in force since 26 December 2025 for goods from any country, lists metal-framed seats, metal office furniture and certain furniture parts. Only one steel surtax applies to a given good, under a fixed order of precedence; it is charged on top of customs duty and any anti-dumping duty, and a remission order relieves some listed products. The partner's broker confirms what applies to your tariff items at quoting.
Formaldehyde emissions from composite wood
Since 7 January 2023, hardwood plywood, particleboard and MDF imported or sold in Canada — including inside finished furniture — must meet the emission limits of the Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products Regulations, certified by a recognised third-party certifier; panels certified under the US TSCA Title VI programme meet the certification requirement. Finished furniture carries a bilingual compliance label on each piece or its box ("CANFER compliant / conforme au CANFER", or a TSCA Title VI statement in English and French) unless its largest surface is 929 cm² or less, and importers keep the records in Canada for five years. Laminated products glued with resins other than phenol-formaldehyde or no-added-formaldehyde resins need testing and certification from 7 January 2028.
Textile labelling — federal, not provincial
The outer covering of upholstered furniture is a consumer textile article under the Textile Labelling Act. Each piece needs a label giving the fibre content of every cover fabric in English and French, and the dealer's name and postal address or, for a Canadian dealer, its CA identification number. The fibre content of the filling need not be shown unless you advertise it. Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec have repealed their provincial stuffed-articles permits and labels, Quebec last in December 2021, so the federal label is the one to get right before the goods leave the factory.
Consumer product safety
Furniture sold to consumers falls under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, which bars importing or selling products that are a danger to human health or safety. Health Canada treats free-standing dressers and chests at least 686 mm tall, weighing 13.5 kg or more and with at least 90.6 dm³ of enclosed storage as a danger unless they meet the ASTM F2057-23 tip-over requirements, so non-conforming units may not be imported or sold. Power recliners and furniture with built-in lighting are also electrical products that need a certification mark accepted by the provincial electrical authorities.
Forced-labour import ban
Goods mined, manufactured or produced wholly or in part by forced or child labour may not be imported into Canada, and the CBSA can detain shipments it suspects. For furniture that means being able to trace cotton and other textiles, leather and timber back through the supply chain. Larger companies that import goods into Canada must also report each year, by 31 May, on the steps they have taken against forced and child labour in their supply chains.
CARM, the importer and GST
Every commercial importer needs its own CBSA import-export (RM) account in the CARM Client Portal, where it authorises its customs broker, and its own financial security to keep release before payment; without it, goods wait until duties and taxes are paid. A non-resident importer obtains its business number from the CRA. GST at 5% is charged at the border on the value for duty plus duty; in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces the provincial part of HST is not collected at the border on commercial goods but self-assessed where required. We do not offer DDP: your company is the importer of record, which is also what lets a registered business recover the GST.
Wood packaging (ISPM 15)
Under CFIA directive D-98-08, wooden pallets, crates and dunnage from China must be debarked, treated by an approved method and carry the ISPM 15 mark; non-compliant packaging can be refused, treated or destroyed at the importer's cost. Packaging made entirely of plywood, OSB or fibreboard is exempt.
Door-to-Door Shipping Service
Before you order, we confirm the tariff items with the partner's Canadian broker: whether the seating, mattress or plywood measures or the steel derivative surtax apply, and whether your supplier has CBSA normal values. Your company sets up its CARM account and financial security if it does not have them yet.
Our Foshan team checks samples and production against your specification, including the formaldehyde certification for the panels, the bilingual textile and composite-wood labels, and the ISPM 15 marks on any wooden packaging.
We consolidate the suppliers' goods, supervise and photograph loading, and prepare the export declaration and the cargo descriptions that the CBSA's advance eManifest data depends on.
The container sails from Nansha, Shekou or Yantian — or Shanghai or Ningbo for northern suppliers — to Vancouver or Prince Rupert, or all-water to Halifax or Montreal, on a service confirmed at booking.
Our WCA partner agent's licensed Canadian customs broker files the release and accounting under your business number in CARM; duty, any anti-dumping duty or surtax, and GST are assessed in your name.
Containers for inland Canada continue by CN or CPKC rail to Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg and are trucked to your warehouse, stores or project site.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to ship furniture from China to Canada?
Is there anti-dumping duty on furniture from China to Canada?
What labels does furniture imported from China need in Canada?
Do I need a CARM account to import furniture from China?
How long does it take to ship furniture from China to Toronto?
Do you ship furniture from China to Canada DDP?
Furniture is just one example. AGF ships whatever your business moves — on this lane and beyond. If your commodity isn't covered by one of our guides, tell us what you ship and we'll build the logistics around it.
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