How do the following two cases utilize bonded warehouses to solve supply chain challenges and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement?
Case One: Company A is a startup technology service company planning to expand into foreign trade export business but faces the following core issues:
1.No export经营权 (right to engage in export operations): Cannot declare exports or handle tax rebates in its own name, which restricts business development.
2.Small and unstable business volume: Orders are scattered, with many varieties and small batches, making it uneconomical to build an in-house export team.
3.Insufficient manpower: Lacks professional staff for foreign trade, customs declaration, documentation, and foreign exchange processing.
4. High cost control pressure: If the traditional self-operated export model is adopted, procurement costs are high, and operational costs are difficult to bear.
Company A adopted the light-asset foreign trade model of “Bonded Warehouse + Entrepot Trade”, enabling the company to quickly launch export business and achieve supply chain optimization and tax planning.
I. The Three Major Advantages of This Model:
1. Legal and Compliant: Utilizes entrepot trade and China’s export tax rebate policies to circumvent the lack of export right (right to engage in export operations).
2.Economical and Efficient: Reduces procurement costs (suppliers benefit from tax rebates) and saves manpower and operational costs.
3.Controllable Risk: Professional companies handle complex procedures, dispersing credit and foreign exchange risks.
The core function of such a combined model is to create a flexible supply chain and enhance customer service capabilities. This is a light-asset, low-cost, quick-start, compliant, and reliable foreign trade pathway solution, especially suitable for startup foreign trade enterprises.
Case Two: Company B is a large enterprise with overseas factories. It is engaged in domestic procurement of various components and parts, which are then shipped overseas for assembly. The difficulties faced include a significant increase in the workload of customs declaration staff and a simultaneous surge in the workload for financial export tax rebate processing.
Company B implemented a combined strategy of “Bonded Warehouse” and “Entrepot Trade” to achieve cost reduction, supply chain optimization, and tax planning for the company.
I.The Three Major Advantages of This Model:
1.Significant Simplification of Customs Declaration Workload:
● Consolidated Declaration: Suppliers can deliver components into the Comprehensive Bonded Zone (domestic goods entering the zone are treated as export, but customs declaration procedures are simplified). Company B can then consolidate goods from multiple suppliers based on the overseas factory’s production plan, performing a one-time customs declaration for export, greatly reducing the frequency of declarations.
● Free Flow within the Zone: Storage, circulation, sorting, and packaging of goods within the Comprehensive Bonded Zone do not require customs declaration, significantly reducing daily operational declaration tasks.
2.Accelerated and Earlier Export Tax Rebates:
● Rebate upon Entry: Once domestic suppliers’ goods enter the Comprehensive Bonded Zone, they are deemed exported. Company B can immediately apply for VAT export tax rebates based on the entry declaration documents, without waiting for the goods to physically leave the country. This advances the rebate process, improves cash flow, and simultaneously reduces the workload pressure on the finance department from waiting and chasing documents.
● Simplified Document Management: The rebate process is separated from the final export shipment stage, making documentation clearer and easier to manage.
3.Inventory Management and Distribution Optimization:
● Establish Regional Distribution Center: Set up a component storage center within the Comprehensive Bonded Zone to perform JIT (Just-In-Time) distribution according to the overseas factory’s assembly plan, enhancing supply chain responsiveness.
● Reduce Emergency Order Costs: If the overseas factory has urgent demands, goods can be shipped quickly from the zone warehouse, avoiding the expedited logistics costs and time delays associated with direct shipment from China.
II.Strategic Value Brought to the Company:
1.Cost Optimization:
● Bonded Storage: Goods are exempt from tariffs and import-related taxes during storage within the zone, reducing capital occupancy
● Logistics Consolidation: Enables consolidation of goods from multiple orders and multiple suppliers for container sharing, lowering international logistics costs.
2.Business Model Expansion:
● Repair and Testing: Can conduct global repair services for imported equipment within the zone, or perform post-sales testing on exported products, expanding the service scope.
● Simple Processing: If simple assembly, labeling, etc., are required before export, they can be performed within the zone, enjoying bonded policies.
3.Risk and Compliance Management:
● Isolation of Customs Risks: Goods complete export declaration upon entry into the zone. Subsequent export operations are relatively independent, reducing the risk of overall rebates being affected by issues in the final export stage.
● Enhanced Compliance: As a special customs supervision zone, the Comprehensive Bonded Zone operates under a standardized management model, helping enterprises improve overall trade compliance levels.
For business models like Company B’s “domestic procurement, overseas assembly,” utilizing the Comprehensive Bonded Zone as a central node in the international supply chain is not just a contingency measure to address current workload pressures. It is a strategic layout for enhancing global supply chain efficiency, optimizing fiscal and tax structures, and supporting long-term business expansion. It can transform originally fragmented, high-frequency, high-load customs and rebate work into centralized, efficient, and predictable standardized operations, offering significant value!
Post time: Dec-08-2025