Importing From China to Panama: Customs, ITBMS and Free Zone in 2026

Panama's economy relies on services for roughly 80% of GDP, led by the canal ahead of banking, tourism, logistics, the Colón free zone and container ports, according to the US Department of Commerce, page updated March 27, 2026. Lacking an industrial base comparable to its neighbors, the country imports a large share of its manufactured goods, with China playing a growing role as a supplier.

Panama broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2017 to recognize the People's Republic of China, ending a free trade agreement with Taiwan dating from 2004. Negotiations on an agreement with China began on June 12, 2018 under President Juan Carlos Varela, then were put on hold by the following administration, according to the US Department of Commerce. As of September 27, 2026, no free trade agreement is in force between Panama and China.

A Chinese product therefore enters under the general tariff regime, with no preferential rate or certificate of origin, despite Panama's extensive network of free trade agreements that does not cover it. The country remains party to the WTO Information Technology Agreement, which keeps duties at zero on part of its electronics regardless of origin.

Panama caps customs duties at 15%, with agricultural exceptions, and has a WTO bound average of roughly 12%, presented by the US Department of Commerce as the lowest in the region as of March 27, 2026. The exact rate for a given tariff line is checked in the Arancel Oficial published by the Autoridad Nacional de Aduanas (ANA), applied to the CIF value.

ITBMS, Panama's tax equivalent to VAT, is added on top of the customs duty: a general rate of 7%, rising to 10% on alcohol and hospitality and to 15% on tobacco. Its import base is the CIF value plus the duty paid; medicines, food and certain baby products are exempt.

Example on a CIF value of 10,000 dollars and an illustrative 10% duty, one of the possible bands under the 15% cap: duty of 1,000 dollars, ITBMS base of 11,000 dollars, ITBMS at 7% equal to 770 dollars, total of 1,770 dollars. The actual rate depends on the tariff code and is confirmed in the Arancel Oficial before signing the proforma.

The essential documents, per the US Department of Commerce, are the original commercial invoice and, depending on the mode of transport, the bill of lading or the air waybill. The customs declaration is filed electronically through ANA's DUCA system, built on its SIGA platform.

No general import license is required: any company holding an aviso de operación, Panama's business license, may import freely. Additional documents apply depending on the product: a sanitary or phytosanitary certificate for food, a certificate of free sale for pharmaceuticals, and special authorization for weapons, ammunition and fertilizers. A certificate of origin remains useful for a preferential rate, but has no effect for Chinese origin in the absence of a bilateral agreement.

In practice, the formal declaration goes through a licensed customs broker, a corredor de aduanas registered with ANA, the only party authorized to confirm the documentation before the goods arrive.

The Dirección General de Normas y Tecnología Industrial (DGNTI), under the Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias, manages the sale of Panamanian technical standards and access to current regulations, according to the ministry's website as consulted on September 27, 2026, without product-by-product detail. Each product family is worth checking with DGNTI before production, not at loading time.

Our sources found no evidence of a general pre-shipment inspection program, unlike schemes such as SONCAP or SABER elsewhere: this should be confirmed with DGNTI or ANA. Weapons, ammunition and fertilizers remain subject to special authorization; the full list of prohibited goods should be checked directly with ANA before any sensitive order, as no exhaustive official source was found.

The Panama Canal links the Pacific to the Atlantic on one of the busiest routes between Asia and the US East Coast. According to the Panama Canal Authority, as consulted on September 27, 2026, it recorded 13,404 transits since the start of 2025, serving 180 shipping routes and 1,920 ports across 170 countries.

Two hubs structure Panamanian trade: Balboa, on the Pacific side near Panama City, and the Colón and Manzanillo port complex on the Atlantic side, next to the Colón Free Zone, a free zone for re-import and re-export toward Latin America and the Caribbean, worth considering once a project outgrows the Panamanian market alone. Our sources could not confirm an up-to-date transit time from Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian: this should be negotiated with the freight forwarder at booking.

FOB works when the buyer arranges transport; CIF when an intermediary handles it through to Balboa or Colón. DDP is not advisable as long as the Chinese supplier is not itself a registered customs declarant in Panama.

Panama uses the US dollar alongside the balboa, its official currency at a fixed peg, which removes exchange rate risk on the final payment. On payment to the Chinese supplier, common practice remains a deposit at order and a balance before shipment, paid to the company's business account, never a personal account; any change of bank details by email should be verified with a direct phone call.

A first order follows a set sequence: a written specification, factory verification, an approved sample, a proforma with the chosen incoterm, production tracked against dated milestones, pre-shipment inspection, freight to Balboa or to Colón and Manzanillo, then customs clearance handled by the client or their local customs broker.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose corporate purpose covers buying, reselling and exporting goods, and by a parent company in France. With no free trade agreement between Panama and China, the lever is not tariff based but operational: our Chinese-speaking team finds and verifies factories, arranges visits and samples, negotiates, has quality checked before loading, and arranges freight to Balboa or to Colón and Manzanillo, with the option of routing part of the cargo through the Colón Free Zone for regional re-export.

Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, a currency already familiar to a Panamanian buyer, complemented by options specific to other regions, quoted on request. Sorva never acts as the official importer of record in Panama and does not clear customs locally: clearance on arrival remains the responsibility of the client or their local customs broker.