Importing From China to Armenia: Customs Duties and VAT in 2026

Armenian imports grew by nearly 33.8% between 2023 and 2024, surpassing 17 billion dollars, with China ranking among the top suppliers alongside Russia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, Georgia, and the United States. The main categories imported in 2024: petrochemicals, precious stones and metals, consumer goods, vehicles, and equipment and machinery (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026).

Several projects are driving demand for equipment: Lydian's Amulsar mining project, with 750 million dollars invested to date, the Vorotan hydropower plant financed by ContourGlobal for 230 million dollars, and the Crossroads of Peace initiative, which aims to reopen regional transport corridors. Digital technology, agriculture, extractive industries, healthcare, and retail are also cited as promising sectors (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). We found no official breakdown of imports by product: these figures describe demand drivers, not China's exact share.

Armenia has been a member of the World Trade Organization since February 5, 2003 (wto.org, accessed September 27, 2026). Since 2015, it has belonged to the Eurasian Economic Union, alongside Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, which required it to align its tariff with the union's common external tariff (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026).

Armenia has free trade agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States and with Georgia. We found no free trade agreement between Armenia or the union and China (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026): Chinese goods therefore enter under the standard regime, with no identified preferential treatment.

Since joining the union in 2015, the average applied customs tariff has exceeded 10%, compared with rates that were previously most often zero or set at 10% (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). The World Bank puts the effectively applied weighted average tariff at 3.86% and the most-favored-nation weighted average tariff at 6.50% (wits.worldbank.org, accessed September 27, 2026): these are overall averages, not a guaranteed rate per product, since the common external tariff varies by Harmonized System code.

VAT applies at the standard rate of 20%, extended on January 1, 2022 to digital services provided by non-resident companies (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). There is no export tax or duty on temporary imports; excise taxes apply to alcohol, tobacco, and certain petroleum products.

Illustrative example: for a CIF value of 10,000 dollars, a duty at the most-favored-nation weighted average rate of 6.50% comes to 650 dollars; the VAT base is then 10,650 dollars; VAT at 20% comes to 2,130 dollars; the total reaches about 2,780 dollars, excluding port fees. The actual rate depends on your product's Harmonized System code, which you should verify before committing.

Every import requires a customs declaration accompanied by a commercial invoice specifying the specifications, quantity, and value (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026).

The TR TS certificate, cited by the U.S. government as a required document for certain products, attests conformity with the union's common technical regulations (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). We found no precise name for the Armenian certification body, nor its fee schedule or timelines: confirm with the State Revenue Committee before production.

No mandatory pre-shipment inspection by an Armenian authority was identified. A private pre-loading inspection remains the best protection against a non-compliant batch, especially when the product falls under a union technical regulation.

Unless authorized, Armenia prohibits the import of pharmaceutical products and medicines, certain chemicals, weapons and their components, explosives, nuclear materials, poisons, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as pornographic content (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). The union also maintains a unified list of restricted or prohibited goods.

Since May 2023, government authorization has been required to re-export microprocessors, transformers, video cameras, antennas, and aeronautical equipment, in compliance with U.S. control regimes (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026): a point to check before storing this type of Chinese goods in Armenia.

Armenia is landlocked. The Georgian corridor is the natural route for containerized goods from China, with Georgia itself ranking among Armenia's top supplier countries and linked to it by a bilateral free trade agreement (U.S. government trade guide, accessed September 27, 2026). South Caucasus Railway, Armenia's rail operator, runs a Yerevan-Batumi line to the Georgian coast, alongside a Yerevan-Tbilisi line (railway.am, accessed September 27, 2026).

We found no published transit time for this route from southern China: ask your freight forwarder. FOB from southern China works if you arrange transport yourself; CIF or CFR to the Georgian port works if an intermediary handles the sea leg. DDP remains inadvisable as long as the seller is not a customs declarant in Armenia.

On payment, common practice remains a deposit at order placement followed by a balance before shipment, paid to the Chinese company's business account, never a personal account: any change of bank details received by email should be verified with a direct call. Orders are most often invoiced in dollars; the Armenian dram traded at 363.52 per dollar on September 25, 2026 (cba.am, accessed September 27, 2026).

An order follows a precise sequence: specifications, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice with incoterm, checking whether a TR TS certificate or license is needed, production monitoring, pre-loading inspection, customs documents, freight to the Georgian port then Yerevan, and customs clearance by the client or their local agent.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou, Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose corporate purpose covers purchasing, resale, and export of goods, and by a parent company in France. Our Chinese-speaking team finds and verifies factories, arranges visits and samples, negotiates, has quality checked before loading, and arranges freight to the chosen Georgian port. We never act as the official importer in Armenia, do not clear customs locally, and do not export vehicles without a licensed exporter. Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, with zone-specific options quoted on request.