Vietnam vs China: Where Should You Source?
"China plus one" has gone from boardroom jargon to something Filipino importers actually ask about. Here is the honest comparison — including the one factor that decides more orders than price.
The short answer
China wins on choice, speed and unit price. Vietnam wins on duty treatment and on specific categories where its factories are genuinely better. For most importers the right answer is not one or the other, it is knowing which product belongs where.
The comparison that matters
| China | Vietnam | |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier choice | Enormous. Almost any product, many suppliers. | Deep in specific sectors, thin outside them. |
| Unit price | Usually lowest, especially at volume | Competitive, occasionally higher on small runs |
| Minimum orders | Often low, easy to test | Generally higher, export-oriented factories |
| Sampling speed | Fast, mature ecosystem | Slower, fewer trading agents |
| Import duty | Reduced under Form E | Zero under ATIGA Form D |
| Transit to Manila | Longer from North China, shorter from the south | Short regional hop |
| Online sourcing | 1688, Taobao, Alibaba — well-trodden | Far less developed; more direct contact |
The duty difference, in money
This is the factor most comparisons skip, and it is often larger than the unit-price gap people agonise over.
China goods with a valid Form E receive a preferential rate under the ASEAN–China agreement. Vietnamese goods with a valid Form D receive zero under ATIGA, because both countries are ASEAN members.
On a ₱600,000 CIF shipment of a product carrying 10% MFN duty, zero-rating is worth roughly ₱67,000 once the compounding VAT effect is included. If your Vietnamese quote is 5% higher per unit than the Chinese one, the duty treatment can still leave Vietnam ahead.
But only if you get the certificate. Both routes depend on paperwork obtained before shipping. A Vietnamese order without Form D is simply a more expensive Chinese order. Read the Form D rules here.
Where Vietnam genuinely beats China
Furniture, rattan and wood. Vietnam is one of the world's largest furniture exporters, with real craft depth in rattan and solid wood.
Garments and footwear. Decades of manufacturing for global brands means quality control standards that many buyers find easier to work with.
Coffee and agricultural goods. Not a contest — Vietnam is the world's largest robusta producer, and pepper, cashew and cinnamon are all strong.
Risk diversification. If a single-country supply chain has ever kept you awake, a second lane has value that does not appear on a per-unit costing.
Where China still wins
Anything niche. If your product is unusual, China probably has twenty factories making it and Vietnam has none.
Small test orders. 1688 and Taobao let you buy a handful of units to test a market. Vietnam has no real equivalent, and factories expect commercial quantities.
Speed of iteration. Sample, revise, sample again — China's ecosystem is built for it.
Electronics and components. Even Vietnamese assembly usually depends on Chinese parts, which raises origin questions and can disqualify Form D anyway.
A practical rule: source in Vietnam what Vietnam makes. Source in China what China assembles from everywhere. Importers who try to force a category into the wrong country usually pay for it in sampling time.
How to test Vietnam without betting the business
- Pick one product that sits squarely in a Vietnamese strength — not your hardest SKU.
- Confirm Form D eligibility in writing before you negotiate price.
- Order a commercial trial quantity, large enough to be taken seriously but small enough to absorb.
- Consolidate it rather than booking a container you cannot fill.
- Compare landed cost, not invoice price. Duty, VAT and freight are where the real answer lives.
Most importers who add Vietnam successfully do it this way — one category at a time, keeping China for everything else.
Related reading
- Shipping from Vietnam to the Philippines
- Form D: the ASEAN document that takes your duty to zero
- China, Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong — where should you source?
- How to compute your landed cost
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