I.Agency export,Can it really help you take control of international trade?

Against the backdrop of global supply chain restructuring in 2025, we found that companies using agency exports generally facerestricted decision-making powerdilemmas. Take a sanitary equipment manufacturer as an example: due to the agencys refusal to cooperate with new market development, it missed the tariff preference window in the Southeast Asia free trade zone. Key issues include:

• Customer information being withheld by the agency, creating information black boxes
• Product pricing power being constrained by the agencys profit demands
• Market expansion pace being entirely dependent on third-party response speed

II. Can agency exports truly ensure fund security?

A 2023 exposure in a certain province revealed thatExport agentthe thunderstorm incident showed,fund chain rupture risksfar exceeded corporate expectations. Typical risk scenarios include:

• Agency companies misappropriating payments causing payment delays
• Fund freeze risks due to sudden foreign exchange control policy changes
• Bank refusals caused by letter of credit operation errors

After the 2025 central bankTransboundary Paymentsnew regulations take effect, the fund turnover cycle will extend from an average of 45 days to 60 days, further increasing capital occupation pressure.

III. Are there legal blind spots in seemingly convenient agency exports?

According to 2024 customs audit data, under agency export models,Risk of compliancea 27% year-on-year increase was recorded, mainly reflected in:

• Tariff recovery due to HS code misreporting
• Anti-dumping investigations triggered by fake certificates of origin
• Joint liability for intellectual property infringement

An electromechanical enterprise was fined 200% of the cargo value by the EU for unauthorized modification of product composition descriptions by its agent, serving as a particularly profound lesson.

IV. Can agency exports meet the needs of new international trade models?

Under the 2025 cross-border e-commerce regulatory reforms, traditional agency models have revealedFour major maladaptations:

• Inability to support customized logistics needs of DTC models
• Technical barriers exist in digital customs declaration system integration
• Insufficient capability to integrate green trade certification systems
• Difficulty in tracing carbon tariff declaration data

V. Will long-term reliance on agency exports weaken corporate competitiveness?

From our twenty years of foreign trade experience, weve found that companies persistently using export agents commonly exhibitThree major capability deficiencies:

• International SettlementDegraded risk identification capability
• Delayed customs compliance system construction
• Weak supply chain elasticity adjustment mechanisms

A garment exporters decade-long reliance on agents led to a breakdown in its independent operations team, losing autonomous pricing power when RCEP was fully implemented, with gross margin plummeting from 25% to 12%.

We recommend foreign trade enterprises establishRisk matrix assessment models, conducting systematic evaluations across five dimensions: market access, capital turnover, legal compliance, technical adaptation, and capability building. For enterprises with annual export volumes exceeding $5 million, we recommend deploying professional foreign trade teams; SMEs may opt forAgent + Independent hybrid models, gradually cultivating autonomous foreign trade capabilities.