Where does the USD 14.00 gap in case export pricing go?

Answer: Trucking 1.80, customs 1.20, freight 10.78 and insurance 0.22, totalling USD 14.00. Freight is 77% of it and the only line that moves every two weeks, so lock it first.

Insurance is USD 0.22, so why list it separately?

Answer: It comes from 66.00 x 110% x 0.3% and shows a claim base of USD 72.60. Fold it into the unit price and the insured amount is impossible to prove after a loss.

Why 30 days of validity and not 60?

Answer: Freight is repriced twice inside 30 days and FX moves 1.0% to 1.5%. Stretching to 60 days lifts the buffer from USD 0.60 to USD 1.20 per case, USD 120 more on 200 pieces.

Should a 200-case order book a 20GP or a 40HQ?

Answer: A 20GP. The lot fills 25.5 m³ at USD 10.78 per case; a 40HQ only wins above 300 cases and costs USD 16.20 per case at 200, USD 5.42 more.

If freight rises after quoting, does the case export pricing hold?

Answer: The factory price of USD 52.00 and the USD 3.00 of fixed cost hold, USD 55.00 in total; freight at 10.78 and insurance at 0.22 float. A USD 200 rise per box adds USD 1.00 per case and moves the quote to 67.00.

Case Export Pricing: EXW vs CIF Case Pricing

Quick answer: Case export pricing runs USD 52.00 EXW to USD 66.00 CIF on one case, and the USD 14.00 gap is trucking, customs, freight and insurance.

Where the five cost lines sit
Trucking and customs
Ocean freight: 20GP vs 40HQ
Why insurance is USD 0.22
FX, BAF and validity
FAQ

1. Where the five cost lines sit

One 700 x 480 x 380 mm carton holds one wheeled hard case, 9.8 kg net and 11.2 kg gross, and 200 pieces price at USD 52.00 ex-works. Quoting CIF adds four lines on the way to the destination port: trucking USD 1.80, customs and documents USD 1.20, ocean freight USD 10.78, insurance USD 0.22. Together they make USD 14.00, which puts CIF at USD 66.00.

Cost line	USD per case	Base	Stage
EXW price	52.00	200 cases, one lot	Factory gate
Inland trucking	1.80	USD 360 per 20GP / 200	Factory to port
Customs and documents	1.20	USD 240 per entry / 200	Export port
Ocean freight	10.78	USD 2,156 per 20GP / 200	Port to port
Insurance	0.22	66.00 x 110% x 0.3%	Door to door
CIF total	66.00	—	Destination port

The bases do not match: trucking per box, customs per entry, freight per box, insurance at 110% of the CIF value times 0.3%. Add them without dividing and the unit price drifts, moving USD 4 between a 100-piece and a 500-piece lot.

Dividing by piece count is the step most quotes skip. USD 600 of fixed cost inside one box is USD 3.00 per case at 200 pieces and USD 1.15 at 520.

At 100 pieces it is USD 6.00.

2. Trucking and customs

Trucking is priced per box, not per case. The 180 km run costs USD 360 one way for a 20GP, pick-up, a 4-hour gate wait and return included, which is USD 1.80 at 200 cases and USD 3.60 at 100.

Case export pricing bench check of an open black hard case with egg-crate lid foam and five grey battery modules in cut foam

Customs and documents run USD 240 per entry — broker 150, origin certificate and packing list 60, telex release 30 — so USD 1.20 per case at 200 and USD 0.46 at 520.

The three fixed lines total USD 600. This is the only block in case export pricing that ignores goods value. That is why a 100-piece and a 500-piece quote for the same case diverge here, not at the factory. Ask for box type and piece count before comparing unit prices, or the USD 6.00 against USD 1.15 spread will mislead.

Fixed cost is divided once and then stops moving.

3. Ocean freight: 20GP vs 40HQ

A 200-case lot fills 25.5 m³ of a 20GP's 33 m³, 77% occupancy. At USD 2,156 per box the unit rate is USD 10.78, the one line in case export pricing where volume works against the shipper.

Box type	Cases loaded	Freight USD	USD per case	vs 20GP
20GP	200	2,156	10.78	Baseline
40HQ, full	520	3,240	6.23	−4.55
40HQ, part load	300	3,240	10.80	+0.02

A 40HQ holds 68 m³ and takes 520 of the same cartons at USD 3,240, or USD 6.23 per case. The USD 4.55 difference comes entirely from 35 m³ of unused space, nothing from the case.

Break-even is 300 cases: 3,240 divided by 10.78 gives 300.6. Below 300 a 40HQ costs more per case, above it the larger box saves money. Book a 20GP at 200 cases, a 40HQ at 380, and treat the 80-case band between them as negotiable.

Volume binds, not weight: the lot weighs 2.24 t against a 28 t limit.

Freight is repriced every two weeks, so the booking week changes the number. USD 2,156 against USD 2,380 is USD 1.12 per case at 200 pieces, and dropping 13 cases pushes the rate from 10.78 to 11.53.

4. Why insurance is USD 0.22

Insurance is the CIF value times 110% times 0.3%: 66.00 x 1.1 x 0.003 = 0.2178, or USD 0.22. The base is CIF because the freight portion needs cover; on 52.00 the same formula gives 0.17.

Case export pricing site walk in a workshop with black hard cases stacked on a timber bench beside a wrapped stack and a worker assembling

A USD 100,000 shipment carries USD 330 of premium, while the 200-case lot at USD 13,200 carries USD 43.56. Small, and yet it sets the claim ceiling.

Listing it separately in case export pricing tells the buyer two things: the money is not margin, and the insured amount is 110% of value. Paying USD 0.05 per case buys a claim base of USD 72.60 instead of 52.00.

USD 0.22 is negligible; the ceiling it fixes is not.

The rate has a band too: 0.3% against 0.45% differs by USD 0.11 per case, and trimming it trims the recovery.

5. FX, BAF and validity

Case export pricing is written in dollars while the cost sits in renminbi. CNY 370 becomes USD 51.97 at 7.12 and USD 51.18 at 7.23, so a 1.5% move costs USD 0.79 per case, USD 158 across 200.

BAF adds USD 180 per 40HQ in peak season, USD 0.35 over 520 cases; USD 150 per 20GP spreads to USD 0.75 over 200.

The 30-day validity is calculated, not conventional. Freight is repriced every two weeks, so 30 days spans two rounds; a 1.5% FX move inside a month is likely; trucking and customs reset once a year. Two of the three will move.

The clause stays short: valid 30 days, renegotiate above USD 150 per box of freight or below 7.20. That is easier to accept than a 3% buffer hidden in the unit price.

A 60-day validity lifts the buffer from USD 0.60 to USD 1.20 per case, USD 120 extra on 200 pieces.

Conclusion

The order of work in case export pricing is fixed: list the EXW price and the four route costs separately, then choose the basis. On a 200-case lot freight is 10.78 of the 14.00 gap, and the lever is box type or lot size; the 3.00 of fixed cost only answers to volume, falling to 1.15 between 200 and 520 cases. FX and BAF sit on a third layer, held by a 30-day validity and two trigger lines rather than a buffer buried in the price. The same case is USD 6.40 cheaper at 520 pieces than at 200. The table below drops straight into a quotation sheet.

Basis	Build-up, USD per case	Unit price	Drifts in 30 days
EXW	Factory price 52.00	52.00	None
CIF, 200 cases, 20GP	52.00 + 1.80 + 1.20 + 10.78 + 0.22	66.00	Freight ±1.00
CIF, 520 cases, 40HQ	52.00 + 0.69 + 0.46 + 6.23 + 0.20	59.60	Freight ±0.60

This article discusses container-side specifications and design implications only, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.