Always having imported seafood detained? You might be lacking a professional agent

Seeing the live broadcast of plump Norwegian salmon late at night, only to find out that you have to wait for half a month for customs clearance after placing an order? Ms. Li, a restaurant owner, was recently in a state of great distress because a batch of urgently needed Argentine red shrimp was stuck at the customs... With the explosive growth of fresh food e-commerce, acting as an agent for seafood import procedures is becoming an essential need for catering practitioners and cross-border buyers. Today, let's decipher this complex customs clearance code.

When Mr. Zhang attempted to independently import Canadian lobsters last year, the entire batch of containers was detained at the port due to missing documents during the quarantine process, and he finally suffered a loss of over 200,000 yuan. Customs data shows that in 2023, the rejection rate of seafood import declarations was as high as 37%, and the main problems were concentrated in:

• The origin certificate did not match the actual fishing area
• There were differences in the labeling of nutritional components on Chinese and foreign language labels
• There was a lack of temperature records in cold chain logistics

1. The "Pass" of Access Qualifications

The access lists of different countries are updated dynamically. For example, the newly added Namibian oysters this year require a separate application for quarantine permission. Agency institutions will monitor the list of countries that meet the assessment and review requirements of the General Administration of Customs to avoid ordering products that are not on the white list.

2. The "Devilish Details" of Document Preparation

• The health certificate must reflect the coordinates of the fishing area
• The filing of imported food and cosmetics needs to be completed 30 days in advance
• Russian products need to provide an additional radioactive substance test report

An import case of Chilean king crabs once showed that when the transportation temperature fluctuated by more than 2℃, the probability of random inspection by the customs would increase by 300%. Professional agents can generate an unalterable logistics report through the GPS temperature control system, which can significantly reduce the inspection rate.

After comparing three service providers, Ms. Wang found that:

• Basic agents only handle customs declaration, and the charge is about 1.2% of the value of the goods
• The full-process service includes overseas inspection, emergency customs clearance, etc., and the charge is 3% - 5% but can reduce the risk of goods being detained in the port by 30%
• Be vigilant of institutions that promise "100% guaranteed clearance". Regular agents will clearly inform you of the risk points

Now you can check the progress of customs declaration in real time through mobile apps, and the AI pre-audit system can automatically identify label errors. However, it should be noted that manual review is still required in key links, for example, the nuclear radiation detection data of Japanese aquatic products needs to be interpreted by experts.

Next time when you are enjoying imported seafood, you might as well think about this customs clearance battle that is a race against time behind it. Welcome to share your cross-border purchasing experiences in the comment section, or leave a message to tell us which country's seafood import details you would like to know most?