China Tightens Export Control: What It Means for Your Shipments to Russia

1. What has changed in Chinese export clearance

The measures came into force at the start of August. They were expected to apply only to selected categories of goods, but the effect has been felt across the whole export clearance process, whatever the product.

• Chinese customs brokers no longer share their export licenses. Many of them refuse to let outside companies file exports under their license — which makes logistics for foreign buyers more complicated and more expensive.
• Fewer brokers handle goods that require special permits, including shipments that need approval from the rights holder of a brand.
• Individual airports, Beijing among them, have introduced additional checks and additional requirements when export documents are filed.
• From 1 October 2025 further tightening is expected from the State Taxation Administration of China, aimed at ending the practice of “borrowing” export licenses.

The purpose of the reform is stated openly: to improve tax collection and to close down grey export schemes, moving all foreign trade activity into a transparent, controlled mode.

2. What this means for your shipment

If any part of your route starts in mainland China — your own plant, a contract manufacturer, a consolidation warehouse or a transshipment point — the export entry now has to be filed by a company that genuinely holds the export right. The cheap arrangement in which a forwarder simply put the shipment through someone else’s license is disappearing, and it is disappearing faster for branded goods and for anything that needs a permit.

Two things follow from this. First, export clearance takes longer and costs more, and the broker has to be lined up before the cargo is ready, not after. Second, the paper trail that leaves China becomes the paper trail your buyer works with: the export declaration, the invoice, the packing list and the shipper named in the bill of lading or air waybill all have to describe the same consignment sold by the same company. Where the goods then go through customs clearance in Russia, inconsistencies in that set are exactly what turns a routine release into a request for explanations.

Arrange the export filing before you book the vessel or the flight, not after the cargo is packed. A shipment that is ready but has no broker willing to declare it under a valid export license simply stays in the warehouse — and the delay lands on your delivery date and your payment terms, not on the broker’s.

Air shipments deserve separate attention. The extra requirements introduced at Beijing and some other airports fall on time-critical cargo — samples, spare parts, urgent replenishment — where a two-day hold at departure defeats the point of choosing air freight in the first place. If your goods are subject to mandatory conformity assessment in Russia, the technical documentation for certification is worth preparing in the same run, so that neither end of the route waits for the other.

3. Before and after: how export filing has changed

The pattern is the same in every row: what used to be solved on the spot by the forwarder now has to be planned as part of the shipment. That planning is the exporter’s, because it happens on the Chinese side of the border.

4. What your buyer in Russia will now ask for

Your buyer’s customs representative works with the documents that arrive with the cargo. As the Chinese export process becomes stricter and more traceable, the requests you receive will become more specific:

• A copy of the Chinese export declaration that matches the commercial invoice — same seller, same consignment, same description.
• Consistency across the set: invoice, packing list, contract and the shipper shown in the transport document naming the same company. A shipper that appears nowhere in the sales contract is the first thing a customs officer notices.
• Confirmation of the right to use the trademark for branded goods — the same approval the Chinese broker now asks for is asked for again on arrival.
• Technical documentation and product composition for conformity assessment and for confirming the classification code declared in Russia.

None of this is new in principle. What is new is that the Chinese export entry is now a document that will actually exist, be filed under a real license and be checked against yours.

5. What the exporter should do now

1. Check who files your export declarations today — your own company, the factory, or a broker using a license that is not theirs. The third case is the one that will break.
2. Confirm with your forwarder, in writing, that a broker is secured for your next shipments and under whose license the export will be filed.
3. For branded goods, collect the rights holder’s authorization before production is finished, not when the truck is at the warehouse gate.
4. Add the export clearance step to your lead time explicitly. If you promise a delivery date to a buyer in Russia, build in the extra days that filing now takes.
5. Make the document set consistent before shipping: seller, shipper, invoice, packing list and transport document must describe the same consignment.
6. Send your buyer the export declaration copy together with the shipping documents, without waiting to be asked for it.
7. Review air shipments through Beijing and other affected airports separately — for urgent cargo, an alternative departure point may be faster than waiting out the extra checks.

6. Frequently asked questions

We are not a Chinese company. Does this concern us at all?
It concerns any shipment that leaves mainland China, whoever owns it. If your goods are produced, consolidated or transshipped there, the export entry is filed under Chinese rules and the new restrictions apply to your cargo.

Our products are not toys, lighting or low-voltage appliances. Are we outside the scope?
Those categories were named in Order No. 150, but in practice the restrictions turned out to be significantly wider and affected the export clearance system as a whole. Do not assume your product group is exempt.

What exactly changes on 1 October 2025?
Further tightening is expected from the State Taxation Administration of China, targeted at the practice of borrowing export licenses. If your current scheme relies on someone else’s license, that is the date by which an alternative should already be working.

Can our buyer in Russia solve this from their end?
Only partly. They can organise delivery and clearance on the Russian side and tell you precisely which documents they need, but the export filing happens in China and depends on the shipper. The two ends have to be coordinated in advance.

Summary

China’s stricter export control has moved from a narrow list of goods to the export clearance system as a whole: brokers are no longer sharing licenses, fewer of them handle goods requiring permits, and departures from some airports now face extra checks. For an exporter shipping to Russia and the CIS, this means longer lead times, a broker that has to be secured before the cargo is ready, and a document set that must be consistent from the Chinese export declaration through to the invoice. Further tightening is expected from 1 October 2025. Request a consultation, and we will go through your route and your document set for a specific shipment.

We can check your document set against Russian import requirements and take the cargo from the Chinese port or airport through to customs clearance for your buyer.

Request a consultation