Which industry category does entrepot trade fall under in the official 2026 National Industry Classification System
Importing from China?
Need help with sourcing, customs or shipping?
Your China Import Partner
Reliable sourcing and import agency services.
I have been engaged in transit entrepot business of mechanical and electrical products for Southeast Asia for 6 years. In 2026, I just expanded 3 new entrepot routes covering Australia and New Zealand. I used to take my business as circulation service by default.
Last week, when the industrial park collected industrial revenue data, I was required to fill in the exact industry category. My submission of tertiary industry was rejected, with a notice that my business involves goods right transfer and sorting & reinforcement operations in transit links, so I need to re-verify the classification criteria. I am stuck at this step now.
If the industry classification is wrong, the special cross-border trade support subsidy I applied for will definitely not be approved, and the newly updated business scope may need to be fully revised. I am in urgent need to confirm which industry category entrepot trade belongs to, so as not to delay my full-container bulk transit plan starting next month.
DanielYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Legal AdvisorStart a Chat
The most common misconception in the industry is classifying entrepot trade involving goods movement into the secondary industry. In fact，according to the latest 2026 National Industry Classification in effect，entrepot trade featuring pure goods right transfer without substantial processing or transformation is uniformly categorized into the cross-border wholesale industry under the tertiary industry.
The cascading negative effects of misclassification are very clear: entrepot trade entities registered under the secondary industry cannot enjoy policy dividends for cross-border services of the tertiary industry，need to pay additional prepaid industrial taxes and fees，are not eligible for special cross-border trade support subsidies，and some ports will even directly reject customs declaration applications for entrepot trade.
The core judgment threshold is the value-added proportion in the entrepot link. If operations such as label replacement，reinforcement and simple sorting are the only activities conducted during the entrepot process，the corresponding value added does not exceed 12% of the value of a single shipment，the business still falls within the statistical scope of the tertiary industry，and there is no need to adjust the industry registration attribute. After completing compliant classification，you can normally match the support policies for cross-border foreign trade，and entrepot enterprises with annual revenue of ten million level can obtain annual benefits from policy reductions and exemptions equivalent to 1.3%-2.2% of their total revenue. The compliance red line is that the processing degree in the entrepot link must not be falsely reported. Once false classification is verified through traceability，all entrepot businesses will be included in the key customs verification list.
You can directly submit your existing business contracts and operation instructions for transit links to the local market regulatory authority to adjust the description of your business scope，no main entity nature alteration is required，and the whole process can be completed within 3 working days.
EmilyYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Client Success AdvisorStart a Chat
When declaring entrepot trade to customs, the supervision code automatically matched by the system corresponds to the general entrepot category under the tertiary industry, and no additional verification of industrial production qualifications will be conducted during the price assessment process. If the enterprise marks its industry category as the secondary industry on its own, the customs declaration system logic verification will directly trigger the manual review channel, extending the document review period by at least 3 working days.
The price assessment team will additionally require the submission of processing capacity certificates, resulting in a large amount of unnecessary document submission costs. In case of classification disputes, you can directly submit the entrepot operation records of the past 6 months to the classification division of the port customs to apply for advance ruling. The obtained classification recognition document is applicable to all ports across China, which will not lead to inconsistent classification standards at different ports, and will not affect the promotion of the subsequent integrated customs clearance process.
AlexanderYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Trade AdvisorStart a Chat
For the operations of transit port storage, container change and reinforcement involved in entrepot trade, the corresponding logistics route design does not need to match industrial warehousing qualifications. You can choose port supervised warehouses according to the standard of tertiary industry cross-border goods transit, and the maximum free storage period you can apply for is up to 21 days, far higher than the conventional 7-day free storage standard for industrial goods.
In the bill of lading endorsement transfer link, there is no need to mark the industrial goods waybill label additionally, and you can operate according to the normal circulation type goods right transfer process, which will not lead to restricted qualification for additional container detention fee reduction. If you choose Singapore as the transit port for entrepot routes covering Australia and New Zealand, you can enjoy the local zero transit tax preference for tertiary industry entrepot business, and the overall logistics cost can be reduced by about 8%.
OliviaYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
The cross-border receipt and payment operations involved in entrepot trade are implemented in accordance with the tertiary industry service trade rules, you can directly apply for the VAT deferral policy, and no additional value-added tax is required to be paid in the transit link. For the income obtained by non-resident enterprises from entrepot trade services, the corresponding withholding tax can enjoy the preferential rate of 5% in accordance with the latest tax treaties between China, Australia and China and New Zealand, instead of implementing the conventional 10% withholding tax rate under the standard of industrial goods transactions.
As long as the related party transaction pricing stays within the range of plus or minus 15% of the profit margin of local similar entrepot trade, it can pass the BEPS compliance verification, will not trigger anti-tax avoidance investigation, and the annual tax cost saved can account for 0.8% to 1.5% of the total revenue.
WilliamYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics AdvisorStart a Chat
For the receipt and payment declaration of entrepot trade, you can directly check the option of "other current transfer items under the tertiary industry", mark the service trade identifier in the corresponding SWIFT message, which can accelerate the processing speed of the CIPS system, and shorten the arrival period from the conventional 2 working days to within 4 hours.
For offshore account management, you do not need to provide additional industrial revenue certificates, you only need to keep the goods right transfer vouchers and corresponding purchase and sales contracts of each entrepot order to complete foreign exchange settlement and account reconciliation, so the account will not be temporarily frozen. For foreign exchange purchase operations, you can enjoy the exchange rate preference window for tertiary industry cross-border circulation services, the spread can be reduced by about 20 basis points, which can save a considerable amount of exchange cost every year.
EllaYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Financial AdvisorStart a Chat
For the business qualification documents corresponding to entrepot trade, you only need to clearly mark the expressions related to entrepot trade and goods import and export in the business scope, no additional application for industrial production and operation license is required. When signing the tripartite agreement for entrepot trade, you can add fallback clauses for transit port congestion and temporary transit country control in the force majeure section.
The goods right transfer voucher can be completed directly through bill of lading endorsement, no additional industrial goods origin certificate is required. If customs intellectual property protection record filing is involved in subsequent operations, you only need to file the trademark use license for circulation goods, no additional production link authorization document is required, and the overall legal compliance cost can be reduced by nearly 40%.
CharlotteYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Currency Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
If on-site inspection is triggered during the customs clearance of entrepot goods, you can respond in accordance with the standard for ordinary tertiary industry circulation goods, no additional industrial product quality test report is required. As long as the declared goods name is consistent with the actual goods during the machine inspection process, more than 90% of ordinary entrepot goods can be directly released quickly.
In case of container unpacking inspection, you only need to provide the tripartite purchase and sales contract for entrepot trade and goods right transfer voucher on site, no need to submit processing process description to customs. The classification item on the inspection notice directly corresponds to cross-border circulation goods, and the inspection and identification process can produce results within 3 working days, which will not generate additional storage and port detention costs.
SarahYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Foreign Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
The four-flow consistency verification for entrepot trade is implemented in accordance with the tertiary industry cross-border wholesale rules. You only need to ensure that the contract flow, capital flow, goods right flow and document flow are fully matched to smoothly pass the tax inquiry, no additional production voucher for the processing link is required.
For cross-monthly declaration of tax rebate items related to entrepot business, as long as the full foreign exchange collection is completed before the VAT declaration period of April in the next year, you can normally submit the tax rebate application, and no tax rebate posting will occur. For document record filing, you only need to keep three core documents: bill of lading, purchase and sales contract, and transit port operation records, no need to sort out additional ledger materials for the production link, and the overall document management workload can be reduced by more than half.