Free Trade Agreements and Importing Extruders
In an ever increasingly global economy, with goods being imported and exported daily all around the world, it is important for companies that import goods such as extruders to know where to go for import/export information. In order to control worldwide movement of goods there is a system known as the Harmonized System (HS) that classifies a certain product with a HS number. The importing country uses this number to assess import duties and taxes to the buyer, if required.
The equipment manufacture should provide you with this HS number so you can determine if there will be any import taxes in your country. For example, The HS# for Machinery for Preparing Animal Feeds (such as an extruder) is 8436.10. If this extruder is being shipped to Colombia, the base import tax is 2.0% in 2015, but starting in 2016, the tax will be 0.0%. However, there can be other taxes, such as a value-added tax, customs processing tax, etc., and this varies by country, so you should always consult a local customs broker prior to purchasing equipment, especially if you are a first time equipment importer.
Over the past few years, the United States has been increasing the number of free trade agreements (FTAs) in order to stimulate exportation of US goods. This helps both the US manufacturer and the international equipment buyer by lowering the total delivered cost of goods. In 2011, the United States signed new trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama and currently the US has 20 active FTAs. On the flipside, these FTAs also help US businesses and international equipment manufacturers because the US businesses can import machinery or goods at a lower price.
There are number of websites you can visit to gather information on your specific goods and equipment as well as your countries import/export regulations. One of the best sites is export.gov. This site has an abundance of trade data, trainings, and a search feature to find HS codes. Tariffdata.wto.org allows you to take your HS number and search by country to determine average import duties.
Directly importing from the United States, or any other country can seem like a difficult proposition, but with help from FTAS, these websites, your equipment manufacturer and a customs broker, you should have no problem in gathering the information necessary to determine your delivered cost, which is the most important number your company needs to make a decision on an international good or equipment purchase.
