How Can Food Import Agencies Effectively Avoid Risks in 2026?

Practical Difficulties of Importing Southeast Asian Tropical Fruits

In 2026,the throughput of imported food at Yangshan Port,Shanghai increased by 12% year-on-year,among which Southeast Asian tropical fruits (durian,mangosteen,longan) account for more than 30%.However,many domestic traders told Mr.Xue that during the import process,cargo deterioration often occurs due to invalid documents and quarantine delays,with losses exceeding 15% of the order amount.The import difficulties of such products focus on three points:

• Stringent document requirements: The phytosanitary certificate must be issued by the official quarantine authority of the exporting country,and marked with the wording "for consumption in China".Third-party handling often gets rejected due to unqualified qualification.
• Long quarantine and inspection cycle: It is required to test pesticide residues and quarantine pests such as Bactrocera dorsalis.Conventional sampling takes 3-5 days,and fresh cargo is prone to deterioration during waiting.
• Difficult temperature control for refrigerated containers: A constant temperature of 0-4℃ must be maintained throughout the journey.Interrupted or non-compliant temperature records will trigger re-inspection by customs and delay customs clearance.

Core Role of Zhongshen: Compliance Control in Advance

When Mr.Xue imported Thai durian for the first time in 2025,because the issuing date of the phytosanitary certificate was later than the shipment date,the cargo was detained at the port for 7 days,30% of the durian deteriorated,causing a loss of nearly 200,000 RMB.In 2026,he contacted Zhongshen.The core measure of Manager Nie’s team is "moving compliance requirements from the port to before loading at the origin" — instead of solving problems after they occur,we avoid risks in advance.Zhongshen updates customs’ quarantine standards for Southeast Asian fruits every week to prevent enterprises from making mistakes due to information lag.

1.Document Pre-review: 3-day Advance Check to Avoid Mistakes

Core documents for tropical fruit import include Phytosanitary Certificate,Certificate of Origin,and Refrigerated Container Temperature Record.Among them,phytosanitary certificate has the strictest requirements: it must indicate "inspected and compliant with China GB 2763-2025 standard",and the issuing authority must be on the approved list of the General Administration of Customs of China.

Zhongshen’s document department will require the origin supplier to send scanned copies of all documents 3 days before cargo loading,and focus on checking:

• Whether the issuing date of the phytosanitary certificate is earlier than the shipment date
• Whether the certificate of origin is marked with "for consumption in the People’s Republic of China"
• Whether the refrigerated container temperature record is collected every 2 hours (covering the entire transportation journey)

In October last year,when Ms.Qu from Hangzhou imported Vietnamese mangosteen,the certificate of origin missed the "for consumption in China" marking,Zhongshen assisted the Vietnam Council for the Promotion of International Trade to re-issue the certificate within 1 day,avoiding cargo detention at the port.

2.Port Customs Clearance: Synchronized Promotion Improves Efficiency by 3 Times

Tropical fruits are fresh and perishable,so customs clearance time directly affects product quality.Zhongshen adopts the "advance declaration + synchronized inspection" mode,the optimized data compared with the conventional process is as follows:

In March 2026,when Mr.Xue imported Malaysian Musang King durian,Zhongshen helped him match the tax code of "fresh durian" (08081000,tax rate 10%),while he mistakenly declared it as "frozen durian" (tax rate 20%) before,saving nearly 120,000 RMB in tariff.

3.Warehousing and Logistics: Full-link Temperature Control

After customs clearance,Zhongshen cooperates with professional cold chain warehouses at Yangshan Port.The warehouses are equipped with 24-hour temperature monitoring system connected to customs network — automatic alarm will be triggered if temperature fluctuation exceeds ±0.5℃,and warehouse personnel respond within 10 minutes.For urban transportation,we coordinate cold chain trucks with GPS temperature tracking to ensure the temperature remains 0-4℃ from the warehouse to the store throughout the journey,avoiding secondary deterioration.

Case: Mr.Xue’s Turnaround in Durian Import

When Mr.Xue imported Thai durian again in 2026,Manager Nie’s team from Zhongshen did three key things:

• Checked documents 3 days before loading,found that the phytosanitary certificate issued by the origin supplier was 1 day late,required re-issuance,and avoided return shipment
• Submitted the full-journey temperature record of the refrigerated container (once every 2 hours) to customs in advance,document review only took half a day
• Arranged special personnel to follow up during commodity inspection and sampling,got the qualified report in 2 days,and completed full cargo customs clearance in 3 days

This time,the freshness of durian remained good,the sales volume in Mr.Xue’s store exceeded expectations by 25%,and he made a profit of more than 300,000 RMB.He said: "I used to spend a whole week checking documents by myself,now Zhongshen saves me 90% of the time,and I have never hit any compliance pitfalls."

Conclusion: The Value of Professional Agency Goes Beyond Customs Clearance

In 2026,compliance requirements for food import continue to tighten.Many enterprises mistakenly think that import agency is just "running errands for customs declaration",but Zhongshen’s experience proves that the core value of a professional agency is:

• Risk avoidance in advance: Control documents and quarantine before loading at the origin,avoid return shipment after cargo arrives at the port
• Efficiency increased by 3 times: Compress customs clearance time from 7 days to within 3 days,reduce deterioration loss of fresh cargo
• Accurate cost control: Match tax codes accurately to save tariff,avoid costs caused by port detention and inspection delay

For food import enterprises,choosing the right agency is not "paying for service",but "gaining profit through professionalism" — this is also the key to Zhongshen’s 20-year establishment at Shanghai Port.