Priced September 15, 2026
China to USA Shipping Price Index
On September 15, 2026, shipping 20 kg of general goods from China to a US address door to door, with US customs clearance and import duty included, cost $299.20, which is $14.96 per kg, and takes 6 to 12 working days. The table below is the same measurement at 12 weights, from 0.5 kg to 1,000 kg.
These are not estimates or a range. They are the prices our own rate card returned on that date, the same card that prices a real customer quote, exported by a script rather than typed. Cite them freely.
| Weight | Air total | Air per kg | Service and duty | Air transit | Sea total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 kg | $9.53 | $19.06 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 1 kg | $17.46 | $17.46 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 2 kg | $33.33 | $16.66 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 5 kg | $80.96 | $16.19 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 10 kg | $150.40 | $15.04 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 20 kg | $299.20 | $14.96 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 35 kg | $487.70 | $13.93 | Air, door to doorduty included | 6 to 12 working days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 50 kg | $546.43 | $10.93 | Air consolidationplus duty at import | 10 to 14 days | not offered below 100 kg |
| 100 kg | $707.15 | $7.07 | Air consolidationplus duty at import | 10 to 14 days | $398.81$3.99 / kg, 30 to 40 days, duty included |
| 200 kg | $986.31 | $4.93 | Air consolidationplus duty at import | 10 to 14 days | $774.95$3.87 / kg, 30 to 40 days, duty included |
| 500 kg | $1,826.34 | $3.65 | Air consolidationplus duty at import | 10 to 14 days | $1,820.21$3.64 / kg, 30 to 40 days, duty included |
| 1,000 kg | $3,137.46 | $3.14 | Air consolidationplus duty at import | 10 to 14 days | ask for a quote |
30 priced figures. General goods, densely packed, so the billed weight equals the actual weight. Sea prices are indicative until the product is confirmed and appear only where sea is the cheaper option.
What changed since the last reading?
Nothing yet. September 15, 2026 is the first published snapshot, so there is no earlier reading to compare it with. Each new snapshot is appended with its date and the change per weight appears here from the second reading on. We would rather show one honest number than a made-up trend.
Snapshots on file: 2026-09-15.
How to read these numbers
- Billed weight is not always actual weight. It is the greater of the actual weight and the carton volume in cm divided by 6,000. Every row here is dense cargo, where the two are the same, so the table is the floor a bulky load can only exceed.
- Duty status changes with the lane, and it matters more than the rate. Air door to door up to about 35 kg has US import duty inside the price. From roughly 50 kg the cheaper lane is air consolidation, where the customs entry is included but the duty itself is paid at import, so a like-for-like comparison has to add duty back.
- Per kg falls steeply, then flattens. A small parcel carries the same fixed handling and customs work as a large one, which is why 0.5 kg costs $19.06 per kg and 1,000 kg costs $3.14 per kg. Any quote advertising one flat per-kg rate for all weights is describing something else.
- Sea starts at 100 kg. Below that there is no LCL booking worth honouring, so the column is empty rather than filled with a number nobody can buy.
Method
Source.Plain Freight's own quoting engine, the one behind the instant offer on this site. A script asks it for a price at each weight and writes the result to a file the site renders; no figure on this page is typed by a person.
Lane. China to the United States, supplier pickup to a US door, including export handling, freight, US customs clearance, and delivery. Import duty is included on the door-to-door lanes and marked on every row.
Goods. General goods: unbranded, no electronics, nothing restricted. Branded goods, anything with a battery or a screen, and regulated categories price on separate channels and are not in this series.
Not included. Cargo insurance, unless agreed in writing. Storage beyond the free period. Customs exams and any duty rate change between quote and entry.
Cadence. Re-priced and appended when the rate card moves, with every snapshot kept and dated. Engine fingerprint for this reading: 3f70bb60653b.
Honest limits.One forwarder's rate card is not a market average. It is a real, buyable, dated price for small China to USA shipments, which is exactly the number missing from most published guidance, and it is the price we will hold to on a quote.
Cite this page
Free to quote, in an article, a spreadsheet or an AI answer, with a link back. A suggested sentence:
Air freight from China to the USA, door to door with US customs and import duty included, cost $299.20 for 20 kg ($14.96 per kg) on September 15, 2026, according to the Plain Freight China to USA Shipping Price Index.
Canonical URL: https://plainfreight.com/data/china-usa-shipping-price-index
Machine-readable: https://plainfreight.com/data/china-usa-shipping-price-index.json
Writing something that needs a figure this series does not cover, like a specific product, carton size or port pair? Ask and we will price it and publish it: hello@plainfreight.com
Related
Prices by product ›Shipping time from China ›Landed cost explained ›How we price ›
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