Importing from China to Zambia: customs, ZABS and costs in 2026

In 2024, Zambian imports from China reached 1.92 billion dollars, according to the United Nations Comtrade database: machinery and mechanical appliances led with 622.50 million dollars, followed by vehicles (270.15 million), electrical and electronic equipment (157.20 million), iron and steel (129.48 million) and plastics (123.70 million).

Two features shape this market: landlocked status, which routes freight from Asia through Dar es Salaam or Durban before onward road transport into the interior, and the weight of the mining Copperbelt, which sustains demand for industrial equipment.

Zambia belongs to COMESA and SADC, two free trade areas that allow duty free circulation between member countries for goods originating there. China belongs to neither: Chinese goods therefore pay Zambia's national customs tariff, with no bilateral reduction identified in our sources.

On the Chinese side, Beijing removed customs duties on all tariff lines for thirty three African least developed countries from 1 December 2024, a regime extended to fifty three African countries with diplomatic relations with China from 1 May 2026. Zambia, a least developed country with longstanding ties to China, benefits on the export side; this changes nothing for duties collected on entry into Zambia.

Zambia applies its own national customs tariff, calculated on the VDP, value for duty purposes: the kwacha equivalent of the CIF value, price paid plus insurance, freight and incidental costs up to the point of entry. Under the formula used by the ZRA, the Zambia Revenue Authority: duty or tax due equals the VDP multiplied by the applicable rate.

A VAT of 16 percent is added, the standard Zambian rate, calculated not on the CIF value alone but on the customs value plus the customs duty and, where applicable, excise duty, which applies only to alcohol, tobacco, certain vehicles and cosmetics. A carbon surtax, based on engine capacity, also applies to any vehicle imported into or transiting through Zambia.

Example on a customs value of 100,000 kwacha for a finished product taxed at 25 percent: customs duty of 25,000 kwacha, VAT base of 125,000 kwacha, VAT at 16 percent of 20,000 kwacha. Total, excluding excise and surtax: 45,000 kwacha, or 45 percent of the customs value.

The procedure depends on the CIF value. Between 1,000 and 2,000 dollars, classified as low value, a shipment can be declared without a customs agent, though duties and taxes remain payable. Above that threshold, classified as high value, the declaration must go through a licensed agent on the ZRA's electronic system.

Goods are declared before arrival: the agent submits the documents, the ZRA checks their compliance, taxation is carried out by self assessment, and release is granted once the taxes are paid. An incorrect declaration triggers an additional assessment and an automatic penalty.

The Zambia Bureau of Standards, ZABS, is Zambia's statutory standardisation and quality assurance authority, established in 1982, under the Ministry of Commerce, with a mandate drawn from the Standards Act No. 4 of 2017. It runs a pre export verification of conformity programme, PVoC, launched on 1 May 2011 with Bureau Veritas as the inspection body.

At launch, PVoC covered food, textiles, footwear, chemicals and cleaning products, toys, electrical and electronic goods, automotive parts and any used product. Several trade sources mention a tightening of this requirement for electrical and electronic goods for 2026; this could not be confirmed on the official ZABS website and should be checked directly with the agency before any production run.

Check, before starting production, whether your product falls within the scope of PVoC: a missing certificate on arrival blocks customs clearance.

Zambian law bans pornographic or obscene material, as well as goods produced by prison labour. The import of pharmaceutical products is described as particularly strict, with no further detail found in our sources.

There is also a total ban, carrying a minimum sentence of five years in prison, on protected wildlife products: ivory, rhino horn, hippopotamus or warthog tusks, and tortoise shell, checked at the border by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife.

With no coastline, Zambia receives its freight through two corridors. To the north, TAZARA links Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi over about 1,860 kilometres of road and rail, rehabilitated at a cost of 1.4 billion dollars and reopened to cross border passenger traffic on 10 February 2026; seven days by rail according to one commercial service, four to six days by road according to another guide, to be confirmed with a freight forwarder. To the south, the Southern corridor links Durban to Zambia by road.

From southern China, freight most often departs from Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Yantian; no verifiable sea transit time to Dar es Salaam or Durban was found, so check with your freight forwarder. FOB from southern China suits buyers who arrange their own transport; CIF or CFR shifts that organisation to an intermediary. DDP is not recommended as long as the Chinese seller is not itself a registered customs declarant in Zambia.

On payment, common practice remains a deposit followed by a balance before shipment, paid into the Chinese company's business account, never a personal account: any change of bank details received by email should always be verified by a direct phone call before any transfer.

A first order follows a set sequence: specifications, factory verification, approved sample, proforma invoice, PVoC file opened in parallel with production, production monitoring, pre shipment inspection, shipment, inland transport, then customs clearance by the client or their local agent.

Sorva is a sourcing and trading house based in Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, backed by a Chinese subsidiary whose business scope covers the purchase, resale and export of goods, and by a parent company in France. Our Chinese speaking team researches and verifies factories, organises visits and samples, negotiates, has quality checked before loading and coordinates freight to the chosen port. We never act as the official importer of record in Zambia and do not clear customs locally. Our base offer is invoiced in dollars, with zone options priced on request.