Importing from China to Indonesia: customs, SNI and VAT in 2026

China remains a major supplier of machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, plastics, textiles and household goods. The World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution database breaks these flows down by tariff line, but its tables could not be extracted for this article: consult it directly for precise figures.

Two mechanisms shape this trade: SNI certification, mandatory for around a hundred families of sensitive products, and RCEP, which brings China and Indonesia together among fifteen signatories and makes it easier to cumulate origin for products with multi-country components. Tanjung Priok port, in Jakarta, handles most of the freight arriving from China.

The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, signed in November 2002, took effect in 2010 for the first six ASEAN members, including Indonesia, eliminating duties on around 90% of tariff lines.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has complemented this agreement for Indonesia since 2 January 2023, following its ratification on 3 November 2022: fifteen Asia-Pacific countries, including China, add cumulative rules of origin. Neither agreement removes any customs formality or technical certification; they only affect the duty rate, subject to holding the correct certificate of origin.

Under Minister of Finance Regulation No. 4/2025, Indonesia's import duty, Bea Masuk, has been simplified into three tiers: 0%, 15% or 25% ad valorem on the CIF value. The average rate applied across all origins stood at 8.1% in 2025, before any ACFTA or RCEP preference.

On top of this come PPN, value-added tax, and PPh 22, a withholding tax. The statutory PPN rate is 12%, reduced by a lower tax-base mechanism to an effective 11% for almost all goods; the full rate only applies to luxury goods, which are also subject to PPnBM, ranging from 10% to 95%. PPh 22 is calculated on the CIF value plus duty: 2.5% with an API import licence, 0.5% for soybeans, wheat and wheat flour, 7.5% without an API.

Example for a CIF value of 100,000,000 rupiah and a 15% duty: the duty comes to 15,000,000 rupiah, bringing the import value to 115,000,000 rupiah. PPN at 11% adds 12,650,000 rupiah, and PPh 22 at 2.5% adds 2,875,000 rupiah. Total at customs clearance: around 30,525,000 rupiah, a little over 30% of the CIF value, with PPh 22 remaining a recoverable advance payment.

A standard import requires a proforma invoice, commercial invoice, certificate of origin, bill of lading or air waybill, packing list and insurance certificate, filed electronically on the Indonesia National Single Window, in EDI format, before arrival.

Every importer must hold an API number; failing that, a temporary permit can be requested from the Ministry of Trade. Licences are consolidated in the NIB, issued through the OSS single window under the Omnibus Law and Government Regulation No. 29/2021: a regulated product still requires approval from the relevant technical ministry. Customs Regulation PER-5/BC/2025 revised declaration procedures in 2025, so check with your customs broker.

The Badan Standardisasi Nasional (BSN), established by Presidential Decree No. 13/1997 and strengthened by Decree No. 166/2000, administers the SNI standard. In 2024, more than 5,300 SNI standards existed, around 130 of them mandatory: construction materials, electronics, automotive parts, food, metal kitchenware, fire extinguishers. Two schemes coexist: type 1b, with testing and sampling carried out at the manufacturer, and type 5, which adds a mandatory factory audit.

Since 17 October 2024, Law No. 33/2014 has made halal certification mandatory for food, beverages, additives and slaughter products, regardless of company size. The BPJPH issues these certificates; without one, legal sale in these categories is no longer possible.

Minister of Trade Regulation No. 87/2015 requires a pre-shipment inspection, at the importer's expense, for electronics, textiles, footwear, toys, food and beverages, and cosmetics.

Minister of Trade Regulation No. 18/2021 bans several categories: sugar above a set ICUMSA colour value, certain rice varieties, ozone-depleting substances, refrigeration equipment using those same gases, used clothing and bags made of jute or bark fibre, hazardous chemicals (DDT, aldrin, PCB, lindane, HCH), finished agricultural hand tools, and mercury-containing medical devices. Penalties: up to five years in prison and a fine of 5 billion rupiah.

A second list, set by Minister of Finance Decree No. 17/KM.4/2024, makes import conditional on a technical permit: traditional medicines and food supplements, cosmetics, household products (PKRT), certain electronics families, and plumbing fittings. These permits must be requested before shipment.

Tanjung Priok port, north of Jakarta, remains the country's main entry point for containerised freight from China. Annual traffic figures found online vary too much from one source to another to be cited here; ask your freight forwarder. Cargo most often leaves from Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian; no precise transit time was found, so confirm it at booking. FOB works if the buyer arranges transport; CIF or CFR if an intermediary handles it through to Tanjung Priok; DDP is not advisable without a customs declarant in Indonesia.

On payment, the usual practice is a deposit at order confirmation followed by a balance before shipment, paid into the Chinese company's business account, never a personal one: any change of bank details received by email should be verified with a direct phone call before any transfer. The rupiah fluctuates against the dollar; ordering in dollars makes comparing quotes easier. The duty-free threshold for a shipment to an individual was lowered from 75 to 3 dollars by Regulation No. 199/2019, closing off the route of small, untaxed parcels.

A first order follows a precise sequence: specification sheet, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice with the incoterm, API and NIB in order, SNI or halal steps started alongside production if needed, tracking through dated milestones, pre-loading inspection when required, freight booking, filing documents on the Indonesia National Single Window, then customs clearance by you or your customs broker.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose corporate purpose covers buying, reselling and exporting goods, and by a parent company in France. Our Chinese-speaking team on the ground finds and vets factories, negotiates, arranges samples, has quality checked before loading and organises freight to the chosen port, while gathering the documentation useful for your SNI or halal file. We never act as the official importer of record in Indonesia, we do not clear customs locally, and we do not export vehicles without a licensed exporter. Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, with SNI or halal support available on quotation.