Giving gifts to business associates is an old age practice having its origin in empirical China, where visiting dignitaries were often expected to give tribute to the emperor and his noblemen.  Although modern Chinese businessmen specially when working with overseas partners do not expect any gift, however a well thought gift would go a long way in establishing your relationship with your supplier.

Recently, the government of India has made BIS certificate mandatory for certain items including LED lights and few electronic goods for custom clearance for goods imported from China or other countries.  This has a wider implication on future imports to India after 6th May 2015.

Customs duties are payable on every piece of furniture imported into India from China or elsewhere in the world.  The Indian Customs Act of 1962 stipulates how much duty is payable on imported furniture.  

A common man  thinks of sofa, dining table, curtains, lights, tableware, floor tiles, lights and decorative products as furniture. Unfortunately, there is no general provision in the Indian Customs Act to classify all household goods as furniture.  The Customs Act defines each item as per “International Trade Classification - Harmonized Code” (ITC-HS) and assigns the rate of duty payable for it.  They are logically arranged as Chapters drilled down to specific sub-headings within those chapters.  Here is a list of common furniture and their broad chapter headings.

Canton fair attracts over 100000 visitors each day.  Add another 25000 exhibitor's staff and everyone wants to get out of fair which turns getting into the city a battle in itself.  I have seen people spending more than couple of hours to get to city. Thankfully, with little planning and right information you can avoid this situation for yourself.  Here is what you should do to avoid being stuck at the Canton fair rush.

Start in time and leave half an hour early.  You will beat the upcoming rush.  The exhibitor have to stay until the end of the fair's closing hour but you have a choice to leave little early.  Believe me, the two hour wait and resulting fatigue is not worth spending last hour in the fair

There are only 6 official taxi rank which serves outbound visitors during fair time.  You will be waiting in line along with hundreds of visitors for at least 45 minutes to get taxi.  Thereafter another 30 to 60 minutes in Guangzhou traffic to reach to your hotel.  The city buses offers paid bus service to many location.  Buses leave right next to the taxi rank every 10 minutes and cost US$ 1.  One can also take metro which may br crowded by faster way to get to the city.

From area A:

Line 1 - Fair Ground to Huanshi East Raod (Garden hotel, Asia International Hotel)
Line 2 - Fair Ground to Lui Hua Road (China Hotel, Dong Feng Hotel)

From area B

Line 3 - Fair Ground to Hai Zhu Square (Close to wholesale market area and Landmark Hotel)
Line 4 - Fair Ground to Tian He, CITIC plaza closer to many five star hotel in the area.

Buses operate from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm except for the last day of each phase of the fair.  You can also get a bus to airport from the same place.

Most of the hotel operate free shuttle buses for their guest.  They wait in the designated parking area and usually leave at 6 pm.  Please check with your hotel for the details.  You may be required to show room key or some proof to board the bus.

Loading container is often considered less important part of the shipment process.  While many tend to think of it as some laborer putting things in a container as per packing list that does not warrant enough attention.  We tend to differ!  At CIS, we think that loading a furniture container is a very important job.  In fact, this represents the last moment when the container will leave the shippers warehouse towards buyer’s destination.  A container unloaded properly can cause many potential problems:

• Unbalance load may damage the container
• Heavier packages on top of the light one may damage products
• Improper loading and exposure to elements of the nature may weaken or destroy outer package

Furniture wholesale markets in Shunde, Foshan is spread in an area of 5 square kilometres, so travelling by taxi is the only viable option.  Although you can see several metered taxis in this area but they never bother to flag down.

There are many meter taxies and private cars (illegal) which can offer to take you from one part of the market to another part.  The going price for a short distance up to 2 km is 10 RMB and 20 for long distance between 3 to 5 kms.  Price may vary depending on the time of the day, your ethnicity and driver’s mood at that precise moment.

Indians importing furniture from China to India have always looked for a nice Indian restaurant where they can dine in evening or grab a quick bite during daytime.  Here is a complete list.

Foshan International Furniture Expo Mall is the newest addition to Shunde furniture city.  This mall was formally opened last year (2013) housing over 1200 shops selling over 3000 domestic and international brands.  This mall is relatively new therefore rent is cheaper as compared to established malls such as the Louvre.  The benefits of lower rents and overheads are passed on to the customer by way of offering lower and competitive prices.

Cheap air freight is mission critical if you are using air cargo as a primary means of logistics and importing goods from China.  Please consider that airfreight can be 10% to 20% of your total cost of import so it is wise to shop around for cheap air freight.