China vs India Sourcing Calculator

At the factory gate the two are usually close, and which one wins depends on the spec, the volume and the week. At your door they can be far apart, because duty and freight are applied to a bigger base and differ by origin. That is why a comparison run on FOB prices alone is not a comparison at all. Put both quotes into the calculator above with the duty rate your broker gives you for each origin, and it will tell you which lands cheaper and by how much.

Because publishing a figure we cannot keep current would be worse than publishing nothing. Third-country tariffs move, and US treatment of Chinese goods in particular has changed repeatedly and at short notice. A stale number sitting in a calculator looks authoritative while quietly deciding a sourcing question worth six figures. We publish India-origin duty because we can stand behind it and keep it current; for the other origin, get the rate from your broker and enter it.

It is the price the comparison origin would have to quote for the two options to land at exactly the same total cost. It is more useful than the raw gap, because it converts an abstract comparison into a negotiating position: instead of knowing that India is 4% cheaper landed, you know that the other supplier has to come down to a specific number per piece to match it. That is a figure you can put in an email.

No, deliberately, and on both sides equally. Import VAT or GST is charged at the same rate whichever origin the goods come from, and a registered importer normally recovers it, so including it would inflate both totals without changing which one is lower. Duty is different: it varies by origin, it is not recoverable, and it is the whole reason origin affects landed cost.

Often more than the per-unit gap does. A lower price at a 3,000-piece minimum is not cheaper than a higher price at 500 if you take stock you did not need and hold it for a year. Longer lead times cost working capital and reduce your ability to react to a spike in occupancy. The calculator shows both rows next to the money precisely so that the cheapest landed cost does not automatically win the argument.

It changes both the number and how much you can rely on it. Where an agreement applies to Indian goods - the UAE and Oman CEPAs, the UK CETA, Australia ECTA and others - the duty on the India side can fall to zero on qualifying lines. Just as importantly, a negotiated agreement rate is contractual rather than something a government can adjust at short notice, which matters if you are pricing a multi-year supply contract rather than a single container.

In practice it means holding a qualified second source so a tariff change, a port closure or a supplier problem does not stop your linen programme. For home textiles India is the obvious second source: the capacity exists, the cotton is domestic, and the trade-agreement position into the GCC, UK and Australia is favourable. The point of the exercise is not usually to move everything, but to know what the alternative costs before you need it.

Our standard minimum is 500 pcs trial / 2,000 pcs wholesale for towels, 200 sets trial (wholesale threshold to confirm) for bed linen, and 200 pcs trial (wholesale threshold to confirm) for bathrobes. "Per SKU" means per size and colour combination. We can run 500 pcs (trial run, small premium) for a genuine first trial. Below roughly 300 pieces we are honestly the wrong supplier — a loom set-up and a dye lot cost the same whether you order 100 towels or 1,000, so the per-piece price stops making sense for you. At that size a local wholesaler will serve you better, and we would rather tell you that than waste your week.

2 free pcs per spec — you pay courier only. Courier from Kerala to most countries runs $35–$60 via DHL or FedEx and arrives in 7–14 days. We recommend asking for two GSM weights side by side — most buyers change their mind about weight once they hold both. Sample cost is credited back against your first bulk order.

30% advance, 70% against B/L copy — so 70% of your money is still with you when the goods leave the port. You get photos of the actual production run before the balance is due. You can also appoint a third-party inspector (SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek, roughly $300–$500 for a single inspection) to check the goods at our factory before you release the balance; we will schedule it and give them access. If a shipment does not match the approved sample, we remake or credit it.

In most countries, no — not for commercial quantities of ordinary cotton textiles. In the US, UK, EU, UAE, Australia and Canada, a business tax or VAT registration number is normally all that is required, and your freight forwarder or customs broker files the entry for you. Some markets do require an importer registration (Saudi Arabia and Egypt among them). Tell us your country and we will tell you plainly what you need before you commit any money.

FOB means the price to get goods loaded onto the ship at Cochin port — freight, duty and local delivery are on top. As a rough guide, sea freight adds $0.15–$0.45 per towel on a shared container and less on a full one; import duty is typically 6–12% depending on your country. We quote CIF (freight included) or DDP (everything included, delivered to your address) on request, so you can compare one final number instead of guessing. Our landed-cost calculator does the arithmetic for you.

Yes, absolutely. Certification is not a hoop we make you jump through — it is simply how we already manufacture. Every piece is made under OEKO-TEX Standard 100 whether you ask for the certificate or not, and it costs you nothing extra. If you do not need the paperwork, do not ask for it and nothing about your order or price changes. Buyers who supply hotel groups or EU retailers usually want the documents; an Airbnb host or a salon owner almost never does.

30–45 days for production, plus shipping. Sea freight is 10–16 days to the Gulf, 22–30 days to Europe and the UK, 28–38 days to the US east coast, and 18–25 days to Australia. Air freight cuts that to 3–5 days but costs roughly 6–8× more per kilo, so it is worth it for samples and rarely worth it for bulk. Plan on about 8–10 weeks door to door for a first sea shipment.

Fair question, and one you should ask everyone. We are a manufacturer in Kerala, India — you can video-call the floor during Indian working hours with no notice, and we will walk the looms and the dye house for you. We will also give you our IEC (Import Export Code) and GST registration to verify independently. A trading company will usually decline a live unscheduled video call, which is the cheapest test you can run on any supplier.

Yes. Woven labels, printed care labels, embroidered logos, custom packaging and retail barcodes are all standard. Logo embroidery adds about $0.30–$0.60 per piece; a custom woven label adds about $0.06–$0.12. Private-label MOQ is 2,000 pieces per SKU rather than 500, because the label and packaging themselves carry a minimum run.