Import duty · Machinery from China
What machinery from China actually costs to bring in, and where the invoice usually goes wrong.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
There is no single duty rate for "machinery from China" — the rate depends on the PCT heading of the specific machine under the First Schedule, and Chapters 84 and 85 span a wide range before anything else is applied. What can move that number is the Fifth Schedule concession on plant, machinery and equipment: if your machine is not on the locally-manufactured list and the end use qualifies, the rate either stays at whatever it already was, or is capped lower, depending on which entry of the table covers it. China as a country of origin adds one more variable, not a discount by default — a Certificate of Origin under the Pakistan–China FTA can bring a lower rate on qualifying headings, but that runs heading by heading, and we check it rather than assume it because your supplier put a Chinese address on the invoice.
"Machinery" is not one import
A container from a Chinese supplier might hold a printing press, a CNC lathe, a plastic extrusion line or a packing machine, and customs does not classify any of them as "machinery." Each sits under its own 8-digit PCT heading in Chapters 84 or 85, and the heading is what sets the first-cut duty rate before any concession is considered.
That is the mistake worth avoiding early: asking what duty a machine from China pays before anyone has classified the machine. The classification comes first. The country of origin and the concession are both arguments you make after that, not instead of it.
What actually decides the number
| Question | What it decides | Where it gets decided |
|---|---|---|
| What is the machine, precisely | The 8-digit PCT heading, and the First Schedule rate that comes with it | The technical description and specification, not the invoice line item |
| Is it made in Pakistan | Whether the Fifth Schedule concession is even available | FBR's locally-manufactured list, or a certificate from the Engineering Development Board |
| What will it be used for | Whether the end-use condition attached to the concession is met | A certificate from the company's own chief executive, filed against the declaration |
| Where did it come from | Whether a Certificate of Origin can move a China-scheduled heading to a lower rate | The Pakistan–China FTA rules of origin, heading by heading |
What the concession changes, in the numbers that apply
The Fifth Schedule concession on plant and machinery does not zero out duty across the board. It changes what you pay relative to the First Schedule rate for that heading, and by how much depends on which entry of the table your machine falls under.
- Item already at 0% or 3% under the First ScheduleUnchangedon assessed value · Fifth Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969, Part-I, Explanations I–IV
- Item on a higher First Schedule slab (11%, 16%, 20% or more)Capped at 5%, 10% or 15%, depending on the table entryon assessed value · Fifth Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969, Part-I, Explanations I–IV
- Sales tax on qualifying plant and machinery18%on value inclusive of customs duty · Sales Tax Act, 1990, section 3 — general machinery does not appear on the Sixth Schedule's exempt list
Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Fifth Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969. Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
The condition, and what happens if it stops holding
The concession in Part-I of the Fifth Schedule rests on two certifications, not one. First, that the item is not on the locally-manufactured list FBR publishes, or is certified as such by the Engineering Development Board. Second, that your own chief executive — or whoever is next in the hierarchy with authority to sign — certifies the import as the company's bona fide requirement, filed online against the company's own user ID under section 155D of the Customs Act.
A number of entries in that same schedule go further: the machine cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of without FBR's prior approval for a set number of years, and if it is, the statutory duty and tax that would have applied at the time of import become payable then, not at whatever rate is current. That period and that condition vary entry to entry — we check which one applies to your machine rather than quote a figure that belongs to a different line of the table.
A concession claimed on a condition that will not hold up is not a saving. It is duty deferred, not duty avoided, and it can be recovered years after the container has gone, with the company's own certificate as the evidence against it. If the paperwork behind "not manufactured locally" or the declared end use will not survive a later check, we say so before the declaration is filed, not after an audit finds it.
What a Certificate of Origin from China actually does
FBR's own preferential trade agreements page names a certificate-of-origin procedure specifically for China, which confirms the mechanism exists: a certificate issued at origin can support a preferential rate on qualifying headings under the Pakistan–China FTA, separately from anything the Fifth Schedule allows. What we are not going to do is give you a rate here we have not checked against the schedule for your specific heading — coverage runs heading by heading and has moved in phases since the agreement's second phase, and a supplier's invoice claiming "FTA rate applies" is a claim, not a fact, until the heading is checked.
What the certificate does not do is substitute for classification. It supports a lower rate on a heading that already qualifies; it does not change what heading the machine sits under, and it does not revive a Fifth Schedule concession the machine fails to meet on its own terms.
Where Chinese invoices and packing lists go wrong
The same handful of problems recur on machinery shipped from China. The invoice describes the item as "machine" or by a model number with no technical description behind it, which is not enough to support an 8-digit classification or a "not manufactured locally" claim if either is challenged. The declared value is quoted FOB when the declaration needs C&F or CIF, which is a valuation query waiting to happen rather than a fraud, but it still stops the file.
Weight and piece count on the packing list routinely do not match what the terminal records, especially where a machine ships disassembled into more crates than the invoice lists as line items. And a certificate of origin, where one is being claimed, arrives unsigned, undated, or made out to a different consignee than the one on the bill of lading — any of which is enough for the claim to be refused rather than merely queried. None of this is unusual for a first-time importer working with a new supplier. It is exactly the list we go through before the declaration goes in, not after.
Questions
What importers ask about machinery from China
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.
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