- Your packed volume is under about 15 m³ — a living room, a bedroom and a dining set together.
- You can accept 26–32 days port to port, plus consolidation in Foshan and deconsolidation at Le Havre or Fos.
- Nothing in the order is a stone top, a glass panel or a single heavy slab.
- You understand that the destination charges are fixed per consignment, so the per-cubic-metre saving shrinks as the order gets smaller.
Destination guide · France
Envío de muebles desde China a Francia
Furniture shipped from Foshan reaches Le Havre or Fos-sur-Mer in 25–28 days port to port in a full container, or 26–32 days as an LCL consignment, on Cape of Good Hope routing. Seats and furniture under headings 9401 and 9403 carry 0% EU duty; mattresses under 9404 carry 3.7%. French import VAT is 20% on goods plus freight plus duty, recoverable by a VAT-registered business. Source Foshan, a sourcing agent based in Foshan, China, consolidates the order, inspects it, books the sailing and arranges the delivery leg that most freight quotes stop short of.
Página revisada by the Source Foshan sourcing team in Foshan · freight and duty figures are dated and sourced at the foot of the page.
De un vistazo
Five numbers to carry into the first conversation.
25–28 daysShenzhen to Le Havre, port to port, full container
USD 4,095–5,00540 ft high-cube ocean freight to Le Havre, September 2026
0% dutyOn seats (9401) and furniture (9403); 3.7% on mattresses (9404)
20% VATOn goods plus freight plus duty; recoverable if you are VAT-registered
15 m³Where a 20 ft container starts to beat an LCL consignment
Before it sails
What leaves Foshan, whatever the destination.
The same three steps stand behind every container we send to France. These are our own warehouse photographs, not stock images.
01 · The one decision
A full container or an LCL consignment?
French orders divide cleanly. Below about 15 m³ the fixed costs of a container cannot be justified; above it, a box of your own is both cheaper per cubic metre and gentler on the goods.
- Your packed volume passes about 15 m³; a 20 ft loads 28–33 m³ of crated furniture in practice.
- You are furnishing a whole house or a set of apartments: 45–70 m³, which is a 40 ft high-cube.
- The order includes marble, sintered stone or solid-timber slabs that should be handled once, not twice.
- You are buying for a project with a date: a sealed container has one arrival, not a deconsolidation queue.
LCL territory
under 15 m³
One 20 ft container
30 m³ loaded
One 40 ft high-cube
68 m³ loaded
A three-seat sofa carton is 1.6–2.2 m³; four stacked dining chairs 0.6–0.9 m³; a knock-down wardrobe 0.5–0.8 m³. Send the list and we return the packed volume per line.
A 40 ft high-cube offers about 76 m³ and loads to 65–70 m³ in practice. Two hundred and fifty stackable sun loungers, to take a real example, sit at roughly 45–55 m³ — one 40 ft high-cube, not two 20 ft boxes.
02
What does it cost to ship furniture to France?
Every line that appears between the ex-works price and the furniture standing in the room. Ranges, not promises.
- Goods, ex-works Foshan USD 32,000
- Export packing and consolidationAbout USD 30 per m³ USD 1,950
- Ocean freight, 40 ft HCMid-point of the September 2026 band USD 4,550
- Marine insuranceAbout 0.5% of goods plus freight USD 183
- Customs duty0% on headings 9401 and 9403 nil
- French import VAT (20%)Recoverable, or postponed, if you are VAT-registered USD 7,310
- Delivery, unload and assemblyIndicative; access decides it USD 1,500
One basket, priced into all eleven destinations, so the bars are comparable. The duty and tax block is what actually changes — as a share of the goods value, France at 22.8%, against 9.2% into Singapore and 50.0% into the United States.
| Line | Indicative | Notas |
|---|---|---|
| Ocean freight, 20 ft | USD 2,615–3,196 | Shenzhen to Le Havre; Fos-sur-Mer is usually within the same band |
| Ocean freight, 40 ft HC | USD 4,095–5,005 | The same sailing; about twice the volume for well under twice the price |
| LCL ocean freight | USD 30–45 per m³ | Before destination charges, which is where LCL quotes mislead |
| LCL destination charges | EUR 350–800 per consignment | Terminal handling, deconsolidation and the customs entry — fixed, not per m³ |
| Export packing and consolidation | About USD 30 per m³ | Re-crating, bracing, labelling, packing list |
| Marine insurance | About 0.5% of insured value | On goods plus freight |
| Customs duty | 0% on 9401 and 9403 | 3.7% on mattresses under 9404; no anti-dumping duty on Chinese furniture |
| IVA de importación francés | 20% | On goods plus freight plus duty; postponed accounting for VAT-registered importers |
| Delivery, unload and assembly | Quoted per address | Paris and the Côte d'Azur differ more by access than by distance |
Indicative landed cost, Foshan to a French address, September 2026. Ocean freight moves monthly — confirm at booking.
03 · Use this on us too
The fourteen lines a door-to-door quotation has to show.
Nearly every bad shipping story on this route starts with a quotation that was shorter than this list. Paste it into your next enquiry and ask for a price against each line. A forwarder who will not break the price out is quoting you a number, not a service.
- Inland move, factory to warehousePer supplier, or stated as waived. Buyers are caught by this line more than any other.
- Warehouse receipt and check-inCounted against the packing list, photographed, with the free storage days and the daily rate afterwards.
- Re-packing and cratingWhich items get closed crates, which get open frames, which stay in cartons — and the price for each.
- Timber treatment and the IPPC markTreatment, marking and the certificate, priced separately from the crate.
- Measured packed volume, line by lineThe m³ you are billed for, with the measurements it came from.
- Export declaration and certificate of originIncluding who files it and what it costs if the certificate is issued late.
- Ocean freight, with the surcharges namedBase rate plus each surcharge spelled out, and how long the rate is held.
- Marine insuranceThe premium, the deductible, and what the fragile-goods exclusion actually excludes.
- Destination terminal and deconsolidationTerminal handling, deconsolidation, and the free days before storage starts.
- Customs entryWho is importer of record, what value is declared, and whether duty and tax are inside the price or outside it.
- EntregaVehicle size, kerbside or room of choice, stairs and lifts, waiting time, and the radius the price covers.
- Assembly and packaging removalBoth, or neither, but in writing. A container leaves roughly a tonne of crate and carton behind.
- TVA and the EORI numberWhose EORI is on the entry and how the 20% is settled.
- Furniture lift or narrow-stair accessQuoted against the actual building, not an average one.
Send us the same list. We answer it line by line, in writing, before you pay anything.
04
How long does it take, week by week?
From the deposit to the last crate leaving your drive. The sea leg is the part nobody can compress.
- Foshan Consolidation warehouse, all suppliers
- Yantian / Nansha Load port, Shenzhen or Guangzhou day 0
- Singapore Usual transhipment call day 5
- Cape of Good Hope Suez is not in use on this lane day 16
- Le Havre Arrival; Fos-sur-Mer for the south day 26
Asia–Europe services route round the Cape rather than through Suez, which is already inside the 25–28 day band above — it is the current normal, not a delay to be added on top. Le Havre serves Paris and the north; Fos-sur-Mer or Marseille is the shorter road leg for Provence and the Côte d’Azur.
- Week 0Collected and crated
Pieces from each factory collected at one Foshan warehouse, checked against the specification and rebuilt into braced timber crates.
- Week 6–10Inspection and loading
Every item photographed against the spec; the balance falls due after you approve the report. Mattresses are listed separately — heading 9404 carries duty where the rest does not.
- Week 10–14At sea
25–28 days Shenzhen to Le Havre or Fos-sur-Mer on Cape of Good Hope routing. Tracking shared weekly.
- Week 14–15Despacho de aduana
Entry lodged with your broker, duty where it applies and 20% import VAT settled or postponed. EORI number required.
- Week 15–16Delivery and carry-in
Delivery booked to the address, crates opened, pieces carried in and assembled, packaging taken away the same day.
05
Duty, tax and clearance into France
France is generous on duty for furniture and unforgiving on VAT paperwork. The number that decides your cash position is not the duty rate, it is how you account for the 20%.
Seats under heading 9401 and furniture under 9403 carry 0% third-country duty into the EU. Mattresses under 9404 carry 3.7%. There is no EU anti-dumping duty on Chinese furniture, seating or mattresses. The classification decides it, so the codes belong on the quotation, not on the bill of lading.
French import VAT is 20% of the customs value plus freight plus any duty. A VAT-registered French business recovers it and, since 2022, can use postponed accounting so no cash moves at the border. A private buyer pays it and does not get it back — which is why it belongs in the budget from the first quotation.
You need an EORI number to import in your own name; your broker lodges the entry. We are not a customs broker, and we say so: we supply the codes, the packed volume per line and the documents early enough for your broker to check them before the container is booked.
Commercial invoice, packing list with packed volume per line, bill of lading, ISPM 15 treatment certificate and the inspection report. One packing list covering every supplier.
06
Clearance is not delivery. What happens at the door.
The delivery leg is where most French quotations stop and most French projects go wrong. It is scoped before the ship sails.
Paris buildings turn on the porte cochère, the courtyard width and whether the lift takes anything longer than a metre. We ask for photographs of all three.
Coastal villas and beach clubs are often the opposite problem: easy approach, long carry, gravel. The crew and the trolleys are specified accordingly.
Crates opened outside, pieces carried in, beds and tables assembled and positioned by room against the packing list.
Timber, cardboard and wrap leave with the crew the same day rather than filling a Paris courtyard.
07 · What arrival looks like
Photographs from the research file.
Other people’s shipments, not ours. In September 2026 we read 18 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes and their comment threads from buyers who moved furniture from China to France, and cleared their photographs for publication. They show what the process actually looks like at the kerb and in the room. Our own delivery photographs are further down, under case notes.
Published with the rights holder’s permission. Faces, house numbers, vehicle plates and third-party company marks have been cropped or redacted; nothing else in these frames has been altered.
08 · Field notes
What goes wrong, in the words of people who have already done it
Compiled in September 2026 from 18 first-hand Chinese-language shipping notes on the China–France route and their comment threads, cross-read against our own files. Poster experience, forwarder marketing and our practice are kept apart: the left column is what buyers reported happening, the right column is what we do about it. Every rate, duty and border rule stays with the authorities listed at the foot of this page.
-
The trap
A quotation that switches from volume to weight, or adds storage, handling and over-size fees.
Lo que hacemosOne itemised quotation, built from your list, showing what is in and what is out. Buyers describe expecting to save RMB 30,000 and nearly losing RMB 20,000 to fees they had not been shown.
-
The trap
Crating everything, or crating nothing.
Lo que hacemosA timber frame adds roughly a third to the volume it protects. Closed crates for stone, glass and fragile pieces; frames or cartons for the rest.
-
The trap
The courier leaves a 70–80 kg table at the kerb.
Lo que hacemosBook carry-in to the room and confirm the floor, the lift and the stairwell first. Paris stairwells are the reason furniture lifts exist.
-
The trap
Bed and mattress sizes that do not match.
Lo que hacemosOrder 140×200 cm or whatever the room actually takes, and put it on the drawing. Chinese standard sizes rarely land on EU dimensions by accident.
-
The trap
Electric and motorised furniture.
Lo que hacemosPrefer solid wood. A motor warranty you cannot use from France is not a warranty, and the fittings are what arrive damaged.
-
The trap
Planning to a sailing schedule rather than a transit range.
Lo que hacemosPlan two to three months from the last piece reaching the warehouse, and more in peak season. One documented consignment took 63 days just to the European port.
09 · The honest version
When a French import is not worth it
Zero duty on furniture and a recoverable VAT make France straightforward for a business and less so for a private buyer.
- You are a private buyer, not VAT-registered. The 20% import VAT is not recoverable and lands on the full customs value including freight. On a container that is over EUR 7,000 that never comes back.
- Under about 15 m³. LCL destination charges at Le Havre or Fos are fixed per consignment, so a small shipment carries them in full.
- A Haussmann apartment with no lift and no courtyard access. Some Paris buildings cannot take large pieces at all. Photographs of the approach before the order save an expensive discovery.
- Mattresses as a large share of the order. Heading 9404 carries 3.7% where the rest of the furniture is nil, and mattresses price like air because they do not compress.
For a VAT-registered business furnishing a project at container volume, France works well — the worked French example runs the numbers in full.
Preguntas frecuentes
Shipping furniture to France, answered.
¿Cuánto tarda en llegar el mobiliario desde China a Francia?
Entre veinticinco y veintiocho días de puerto a puerto en un contenedor completo desde Shenzhen a Le Havre o Fos-sur-Mer, y entre veintiséis y treinta y dos días como envío LCL, siguiendo la ruta actual del Cabo de Buena Esperanza. Hay que añadir entre dos y cuatro semanas para la producción y la consolidación antes de la salida del buque, y unas dos semanas para el despacho de aduana y la reserva de entrega. De puerta a puerta, un pedido típico tarda entre catorce y dieciséis semanas desde el pago del anticipo.
¿Qué derechos de aduana e IVA se aplican a los muebles que se importan de China a Francia?
Los asientos de la partida 9401 y los muebles de la partida 9403 están sujetos a un arancel del 0% al entrar en la UE; los colchones de la partida 9404, a un arancel del 3,7%. No se aplica ningún arancel antidumping a los muebles procedentes de China. El IVA francés de importación es del 20% sobre el valor en aduana más los gastos de transporte más los derechos de aduana. Una empresa francesa registrada a efectos del IVA lo recupera y puede recurrir a la contabilidad diferida, de modo que no se produce ningún intercambio de efectivo en la frontera; un comprador particular lo paga y no puede reclamarlo.
¿Debería enviar un envío LCL o un contenedor completo a Francia?
Por debajo de unos 15 m³, se opta por el transporte LCL. Por encima de esa cantidad, un contenedor de 20 pies suele resultar más barato por metro cúbico y más seguro para la piedra y la madera maciza. La tarifa marítima por metro cúbico que figura en un presupuesto de LCL parece baja, pero la manipulación en la terminal, el desconsolidado y el despacho de aduana se cobran por envío, no por metro cúbico, por lo que suponen un gasto importante en un envío pequeño.
¿A qué puerto francés debería llegar mi contenedor?
Le Havre para París, Normandía, Bretaña y la mayor parte del norte; Fos-sur-Mer o Marsella para Provenza, la Costa Azul y el sur. Elegir el puerto más cercano a la dirección de entrega suele suponer un mayor ahorro en el transporte por carretera que cualquier diferencia en la tarifa marítima.
¿Se encargan ustedes de los trámites aduaneros en Francia?
No, y no vamos a fingir lo contrario. Somos una agencia de abastecimiento con sede en Foshan, no un agente de aduanas ni un transportista. Facilitamos los códigos HS, el volumen embalado por línea y la documentación con la antelación suficiente para que vuestro agente de aduanas pueda comprobarlos antes de reservar el contenedor, y el tramo de entrega se lleva a cabo con nuestros socios logísticos.
Will the delivery crew carry it into the room, or leave it at the kerb?
Into the room you choose, with simple assembly, if that is what the quotation says — and we write it down. French buyers describe couriers leaving 70–80 kg tables on the pavement because the booking was for a parcel service rather than a furniture delivery. Give us the floor, the lift and the stairwell width, and Parisian buildings that need a furniture lift are priced for one before the goods leave China.
Do the bed and mattress sizes match French ones?
Only if you specify them. Chinese standard beds are built around 1.5 m and 1.8 m widths, which do not land on 140×200 cm or 160×200 cm by accident, and a mattress bought in France will not fit a frame ordered to a Chinese size. Put the EU dimensions on the drawing at order stage — it costs nothing then and cannot be fixed afterwards.
Is a timber frame worth it on everything?
No. A frame adds roughly a third to the volume it protects, and on an LCL consignment you pay for that volume. We frame stone, glass, mirrors and anything with a fragile finish, and leave well-cartoned case goods in their cartons. A forwarder who frames the whole consignment is selling you volume; one who frames none of it is selling you a claim.
Send your list and your France address
Quantities, rooms or a rough list are enough. You get compared factory options, the packed volume, the container call and a landed estimate within one business day.
Campos marcados son obligatorios.
No spam, no obligation. Replies come from the sourcing team in Foshan, usually within one business day.
Sources & further reading
Where these figures come from.
- Sino Shipping — Shipping from China to France — FCL and LCL rate ranges and port-to-port transit times to Le Havre, September 2026
- European Commission — EU Customs Tariff (TARIC) — Third-country duty rates for Chapter 94 headings
- Douane — TVA à l'importation et autoliquidation — French import VAT rate and postponed accounting for VAT-registered importers
Ocean freight is a spot market and moves monthly; duty and tax rules change without notice. Treat every figure here as a starting point and confirm it at booking with your broker.