Shipping from China to Europe

China is the European Union's largest source of imported goods, and much of what Europe buys — furniture, lighting, appliances, machinery and electrical equipment — is made in the Pearl River Delta around our Foshan office. There are three ways to move it. Ocean freight to the North Range or the Mediterranean, where carriers have returned to the Suez Canal only service by service and the rest still sail around the Cape of Good Hope. Rail, which we book only on the Middle Corridor through Kazakhstan, the Caspian and the Caucasus, never across Russia or Belarus. And air. The EU end has also become harder: product-safety rules that need an EU responsible person, a formaldehyde limit for furniture since August 2026, deforestation due diligence for wood from 30 December 2026, the carbon border mechanism (CBAM) on steel and aluminium, and anti-dumping duties on a growing list of Chinese goods.

Last reviewed: October 2026

Offices and representative on this lane:Foshan, China

Services Available on This Route

AGF Advantage on This Lane

This lane starts in our own office. AGF's team in Foshan visits factories, checks goods against your specification, consolidates several suppliers into one container, supervises and photographs loading, and prepares the export documents and the data for the EU's ICS2 entry summary before the container sails. In Europe we work through WCA partner agents in the country of delivery — AGF has no office in Europe — who clear the goods as your customs representative, handle import VAT and deliver. For rail we book only Middle Corridor services through Kazakhstan; we do not book China–Europe trains that cross Russia or Belarus, and every shipment is screened before it is booked.

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