Analysis on Difficulties in Customs Clearance for Nanxiong Chemical Products Shipped to Vietnam

Market Status and Operation Bottlenecks of Nanxiong Chemical Products Export to Vietnam

In the first quarter of 2026,the export value of chemical products from Nanxiong to Vietnam increased by 23.7% year on year,while the number of return and demurrage cases rose by 18.4% over the same period.This contrast exposes three structural contradictions: First,the chemical classification pre-review system launched by Vietnam Customs at the end of 2025 requires exporters to submit complete physical and chemical data sheets 72 hours before shipment.Most small and medium-sized chemical enterprises in Nanxiong lack professional declaration personnel,resulting in a one-time document pass rate of less than 60%.Second,the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam implements dynamic negative list management for industrial coatings and additives containing specific components,and the list update frequency is changed from quarterly to monthly,making it difficult for enterprises to respond in a timely manner.Third,there are technical differences between China and Vietnam in dangerous goods packaging labels and MSDS report formats.Local freight forwarders in Nanxiong lack operation experience at Vietnamese ports and often use "standard templates" to cope,leading to frequent container opening and spot checks by the inspection departments of Hanoi Port and Haiphong Port.

Among the 47 Nanxiong cases handled by Manager Dong in 2025,31 involved HS code classification disputes.Vietnam Customs classified some epoxy resin curing agents produced in Nanxiong into 3824.99 instead of 3907.30,with a tax rate difference of 7 percentage points.Such technical differences cannot be resolved through simple communication,and commodity pre-classification services must be embedded at the contract signing stage.A more hidden risk lies in the return inquiry of Vietnam Certificate of Origin (Form E).In 2026,the Vietnam Certificate of Origin verification system was connected with customs declaration data,and minor discrepancies will trigger certificate return,affecting the enjoyment of tariff preferences.

Four-tier Value Positioning of Zhongshen Nanxiong Export Agency Service

In response to the above pain points,Zhongshen’s service design abandons the traditional "order receiving - subcontracting" model of freight forwarders,and establishes a special service team stationed in Nanxiong Development Zone.The core value is not simply agency services of ordinary customs brokers,but to apply Vietnamese port rules move forward to the shipment link of Nanxiong factories.Specifically,the first tier of value is pre-assessment of commodity access.Before the customer signs a contract with the Vietnamese buyer,Zhongshen completes the triple cross-verification of the negative list of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam,chemical registration list,and environmental protection access list,and issues the Export Feasibility Opinion to avoid losses caused by inability to clear customs after enterprises put into production.

The second tier of value is reflected in the "Vietnam-oriented transformation" in the document generation link.Zhongshen’s customs system is directly connected to the commodity database of Vietnam Customs,automatically converting the national standard MSDS provided by Nanxiong enterprises into Vietnam TCVN format,translating Chinese component descriptions into Vietnamese technical terms,and embedding the 16-digit commodity description code required by Vietnam Customs.The third tier of value is localized response in the inspection link.Zhongshen assigns Vietnamese customs specialists to Hanoi,Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh ports.When Nanxiong goods arrive,the specialists can arrive at the inspection site within one hour,directly communicate the physical and chemical properties with technical officials in Vietnamese,to avoid misjudgment caused by information translation distortion.The fourth tier of value is risk isolation at the tax refund node.Zhongshen intelligently matches Vietnam customs clearance documents with the tax refund review rules of the State Taxation Administration,and identifies tax refund risk points such as "document discrepancy and data inversion" in advance,to ensure that Nanxiong enterprises obtain tax refunds within 15 working days after the goods depart from the port.

Disassembly of Service Modules: Document Processing,Customs Clearance Implementation and Tax Refund Management

Document Pre-review and Dynamic Compliance Management

The most common document trap encountered by Nanxiong enterprises exporting to Vietnam is the lack of technical parameters in the Material Safety Data Sheet.Vietnam Customs requires 12 core data such as flash point,explosion limit,acute toxicity LD50 value,while the national standard MSDS commonly used by domestic enterprises usually only lists 8 items.Zhongshen’s approach is to dispatch technical clerks to station in the factory at the customer’s stock preparation stage,supplement test data according to Vietnam’s Decree No.113/2017/NĐ-CP,and complete Vietnamese translation and notarization simultaneously.The new requirement in 2026 is that all liquid chemical products must provide a transport condition appraisal report issued by a third-party laboratory recognized by Vietnam.Zhongshen has established a fast channel with SGS Vietnam Laboratory,reducing the report acquisition cycle from 14 days to 5 days.

The filling accuracy requirement for Certificate of Origin Form E requires "character-level matching".The Vietnam Customs system automatically compares the commodity description in column 7 of Form E with column 31 of the customs declaration form,and even differences in punctuation marks will trigger an early warning.The intelligent Form E filling system developed by Zhongshen directly reads customs declaration data to generate Form E,eliminating manual entry errors.For the processing trade mode commonly used by Nanxiong enterprises,the system can also automatically calculate the proportion of domestic materials and parts,to ensure compliance with the 40% Vietnam origin standard.

Customs Clearance Implementation and Inspection Intervention

Vietnam Customs implements a 100% machine inspection + manual verification system for first-time imported chemical products.Zhongshen’s response strategy is the "pre-inspection" mechanism: when the goods are loaded in containers in Nanxiong,Zhongshen’s loading supervisors will use portable spectrometers to conduct rapid testing of main components and generate a Loading Verification Report.This report is sent to the cooperative customs broker in Vietnam along with the ship.When Vietnam customs officials open the container for inspection,the customs broker can present this report to prove the consistency of the goods components,reducing the average inspection time from 3 days to 4 hours.

For HS code classification disputes,Zhongshen starts the "commodity classification filing" procedure immediately after receiving the order.The team submits the chemical structural formula,CAS number and usage description of Nanxiong products to the Vietnam Customs Classification Center for pre-ruling,to obtain a legally effective classification decision.In 2026,the application fee for Vietnam Customs pre-ruling increased to USD 200 per shipment,but Zhongshen reduced the cost for a single customer to USD 60 through batch declaration.This pre-action reduces the classification dispute rate of Nanxiong enterprises’ goods at Vietnamese ports from the industry average of 35% to less than 4%.

Tax Refund Acceleration and Cash Flow Optimization

The tax refund cycle for Nanxiong enterprises exporting to Vietnam is generally 8-10 working days longer than that for exporting to Europe and the United States,and the crux lies in the delayed transmission of Vietnam customs clearance documents.Zhongshen has established an "electronic document synchronization system".The cooperative customs broker in Vietnam scans and uploads the Vietnam Customs release order,value-added tax invoice and tax payment certificate to the cloud on the day of completing customs clearance,and Zhongshen’s Nanxiong office obtains them in real time and starts tax refund declaration.This mechanism advances the tax refund declaration time from the traditional "after receiving the original document" to "the day of Vietnam customs clearance".

More critical is the accurate accounting of tax refund amount.Vietnam imposes a special sales tax of 3%-5% on some chemical products,which can be deducted from the base of China’s export tax refund.Zhongshen’s financial system can automatically capture the deductible tax amount in the Vietnamese tax payment certificate,and perform reverse calculation in the tax refund declaration system,to avoid enterprises from overpaying taxes.In 2026,the letter verification proportion of export tax refund by the State Taxation Administration increased to 30%.Zhongshen has built an "evidence chain package" to respond to letter verification by retaining complete operation videos of Vietnamese ports,inspection records,and technical communication emails,keeping the letter verification pass rate of Nanxiong enterprises at more than 98%.

Quantitative Indicators of Efficiency Improvement and Cost Structure

Data of Nanxiong customers served by Zhongshen shows that after adopting the full-process agency service,the customs clearance time is reduced from the industry average of 5.8 days to 3.2 days,with the fastest record of 1.5 days.This improvement comes from the parallel processing of three links: completing Vietnam pre-declaration while loading,completing document pre-review during the voyage,and completing tax prepayment before arrival at the port.Demurrage expenditure decreased by 76%,saving about USD 420 per standard container.

In terms of tax refund speed,the average tax refund arrival cycle for Nanxiong enterprises operating on their own is 32 working days,while that for Zhongshen’s customers is 21 working days,a speed increase of 34.4%.For a medium-sized chemical enterprise with a monthly export value of USD 500,000,obtaining tax refund 11 days in advance means releasing about CNY 65,000 of working capital.Calculated at an annualized rate of 6%,this item alone reduces financial costs by CNY 3,900 per month.

Decision-making Suggestions for Nanxiong Enterprises Choosing Agency Services

Not all Nanxiong export enterprises need full-process agency services.Zhongshen suggests that enterprises make modular choices according to their own export frequency,product complexity,and cooperation degree of Vietnamese buyers.For enterprises with less than 3 shipments per month and single products,they can choose the basic package of "document review + Vietnam customs clearance,with a fee of USD 800 per shipment.For enterprises with complex product components involving dangerous goods,it is recommended to choose the full package service of "pre-classification + pre-inspection + tax refund acceleration",with a fee of 1.2% of the export value,but can save a total of about 2.5% of the export value in demurrage fees,inspection fees,and tax refund capital costs.

Vietnam will implement the new Chemicals Management Law in 2026,requiring all exporters to set up chemical safety representatives in Vietnam or entrust local institutions.Zhongshen has made advance arrangements and registered a compliance entity in Hanoi,which can act as the legal safety representative of Nanxiong enterprises to avoid legal risks.This service is particularly important for Nanxiong enterprises that plan to deeply cultivate the Vietnamese market for a long time.

Manager Dong suggests that when negotiating with Vietnamese buyers,Nanxiong enterprises should clearly define the customs clearance responsibility clause as "seller assists in customs clearance",and include Zhongshen’s agency fee in the contract price.This can not only ensure the quality of customs clearance,but also pass on the service cost to the buyer,achieving a win-win situation.For enterprises adopting letter of credit settlement,Zhongshen can provide "document submission pre-review service" to ensure that all documents meet the requirements of the letter of credit and the regulations of Vietnam Customs,avoiding the dual losses of payment refusal and demurrage caused by document discrepancies.